NEW DELHI: A 16-year-old girl who was allegedly made to work for nearly 20 hours a day, repeatedly burnt with a hot iron and denied food for days was rescued from a house in southeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, police said on Saturday.The girl was working as a domestic help at a house in Abul Fazal Enclave-II and had been kept away from her parents for nearly a year, news agency PTI reported.According to police, an NGO approached them with a complaint alleging that a girl was being employed as a labourer in the area.Following directions from the Kalkaji sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), a rescue operation was carried out by the Labour Department, Delhi Police and representatives of the NGO on November 3 and 4.During the operation, the girl, who lives in Shram Vihar Jhuggi in Shaheen Bagh, was rescued from a house in Abul Fazal Enclave-II, where she was allegedly employed by a woman identified as Sadaf, police said.In her statement, the girl said she was made to work from 6am to 2am, performing household chores such as sweeping, mopping, washing utensils and cleaning the house.She said she was given tea at around 11am and was often served leftover food.The girl also alleged that her employer repeatedly burnt her back, hands and hips with a hot iron and wounded her with a heated knife.According to the NGO, several injuries and old scars were found on her body, including burn marks across her back and deep wounds on her head.The girl further told the authorities that she was once denied food and water for three days and beaten for minor mistakes. Instead of taking her to a doctor, her employer gave her medicines bought from a medical store.Police said the girl was also allegedly stopped from meeting her parents, who were allowed to speak to her over the phone only two or three times in nearly a year.During these calls, her face was covered so that her parents could not see her injuries, the NGO claimed.The girl was initially too scared to speak before officials, as she had allegedly been threatened with death if she revealed the abuse. She later recounted her ordeal before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).Her statement was recorded before a magistrate, after which she was produced before the CWC. The committee directed that she be admitted to AIIMS for medical treatment.The SDM directed Shaheen Bagh police station to register a case under the provisions of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.No arrests have been made so far.The NGO said another woman had placed the girl in the household and that she was paid only Rs 18,000 for nearly a year of work.The girl told the CWC that she wanted to resume her studies and become a teacher.(With inputs from PTI)
