Assam: Army major, wife arrested for torturing minor domestic help
The domestic help, who said she was often thrashed and made to eat from the garbage bin, has broken teeth, cut marks on her tongue and burn marks in different places on her body
Assam police arrested an army officer and his wife for allegedly torturing their underage domestic help and inflicting severe injuries on her. The girl, who said she was often thrashed and made to eat from the garbage bin, has broken teeth, cut marks on her tongue and burn marks in different places on her body.
Dima Hasao SP Mayank Kumar told the media that they had received information that a minor girl from Haflong, who had accompanied the couple to Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, was “tortured brutally”. A FIR was filed after the girl's mother complained to the police.
The girl's medical report revealed a fractured nose and deep cuts on her tongue.
Tortured for six months
The 16-year-old girl was allegedly tortured for six months, was not given clothes to wear most of the time. She was also not given food and made to eat from the garbage bin, said news reports.
A NDTV report said that the girl alleged she was stripped and thrashed until she bled and she was even forced to lick her own blood. The girl said that she was kept locked in a room and the army officer’s wife would beat her with a rolling pin if she did not do her household chores properly.
Meanwhile, the accused couple have claimed that the girl fell down the stairs and got injured.
A case has been registered under the stringent POCSO and SC/ST laws and other relevant sections. Charges of assault, unlawful labour, and slavery have also been added, said Mayank Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Dima Hasao.
The accused, who holds the rank of a major in the Indian Army, had hired the girl to babysit. She was taken her to Palampur in Himachal Pradesh where he is posted and it was here she was allegedly tortured. After they returned to Assam, the girl visited her family and revealed what she had undergone.
The girl's mother told the media that she hardly recognised her daughter since she looked so old. The girl, who had broken teeth and burn marks on her face, is currently receiving medical care at the Haflong Civil Hospital.