A domestic help couple, who was allegedly confined in a house and physically tortured and harassed by their 55-year-old NRI employer, was rescued by the East District Police on Thursday morning from Mayur Vihar. The accused has also been arrested.
The police acted on information provided by the neighbours of the accused; who, police said, posed as an IPS officer. The accused is based in the US. Accused Aarti Jain was arrested from her residence on charges of causing hurt, illegal confinement, unlawful compulsory labour Act, threatening of the Indian Penal Code. Police said the woman had come to Delhi for her mother’s treatment.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the victims would used to get stale food to eat and were beaten up mercilessly for minor mistakes. There were also some canine bite marks on their bodies,” a senior police officer said, adding that the woman had also lodged six police complaints against her maids on previous occasions. The victims alleged that Aarti did not give them any salary. When they asked for money, she beat them with iron rods. She has six dogs, which she brought from the US and used to let them loose to scare the domestic helps.
The incident comes nearly a week after the arrest of Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dhananjay Singh and his wife for torturing their help to death. “Aarti Jain was arrested from her residence in Mayur Vihar Phase I, Pocket I for torturing her 24-year-old help Bhagwati Oraon and her husband Dilip (30), native of New Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal,” a senior police officer said. Preliminary investigation also revealed that the victims were working at Jain’s house for the last three months.
“A neighbour informed police and a raid was carried out at Jain’s house, where the victims were found locked inside a room. The victims told police that they were burnt by their employer with hot iron every time they demanded salary,” the officer added.
Police said the victims came to the Capital around four months ago and started working at Jain’s house. They employed them for Rs8,000 per month, but did not pay. Whenever, the couple asked them for salary, she threatened to implicate them in a burglary case. She also threatened them the guard will shot them if they ever tried to escape from the house.
The victims narrated their ordeal to police and said that they had been beaten by her with a belt three days ago and had been locked inside the house. She had also not eaten anything since the past two days. There were bruises on their face and hands.
“Aarti slapped them whenever they committed a minor mistake. They never let the victims contact their family members and never sent them out to buy groceries as she was scared that they would run away or complain about her to the neighbours. She used to lock her up inside the house, without any food or water, for days whenever she went aboard,” a police source said.