An Indian couple, both doctors, locked up a 13-year-old girl working as their domestic help when they left on vacation to Thailand, police said Friday. The girl was rescued from a New Delhi flat late Thursday with the help of the fire brigade after neighbours raised an alarm, deputy commissioner of police AK Ojha said.
She had been locked in the flat alone for six days and was hungry after the food left for her had run out after three days, said Nishi Kant, a member of the non-profit group Shakti Vahini, which works for the rights of women and children in New Delhi. The 13-year-old told the city's Child Welfare Committee Friday that her employers regularly abused her, beating and kicking her if she did not perform any task to their liking, said Kant, who was present at the meeting. "If I made any mistake in our work or ate something, they used to hit me," Kant quoted her as saying.
The girl, who has been working for the couple eight months, said she had been locked up before. The girl was taken to a state-run shelter for women and girls, Kant said. Ojha said the police had not yet been able to contact her employers. "We will take action on the basis of the girl's statement," Ojha said.
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