The police arrested on Wednesday a doctor couple wanted on charges of confining, starving and torturing their domestic help, a 13-year-old girl, at their house in south-west Delhi while they vacationed in Thailand.
Dr Sanjay Verma, a diabetes specialist,and Dr Sumita Verma, a gynecologist, were held from Rajouri Garden in west Delhi in the afternoon over a tip-off, said Anil Kumar Ojha, deputy commissioner of police (south-west).
“They had returned to the country a day after the incident came to light on March 29, but were hiding at their relative’s house,” Ojha saidd. A senior police official added that 15 teams were working on the incident and personnel were deployed near their relatives’ houses here.
The couple was produced before Dwarka courts, where Metropolitan Magistrate Ruchika Singla sent them to two days’ police custody. They will now be produced before the court on Saturday.
The Vermas have been accused of not only employing a 13-year-old and leaving her locked up at their house in Dwarka sector-6 while they were vacationing with their 11-year-old daughter, but also physically abusing and mentally torturing her.
They have been charged under sections of the Juvenile Justice Act, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, and Indian Penal Code.
The girl from Jharkhand was rescued on March 29 after she cried from the balcony of the second floor apartment and drew the attention of a group of housemaids passing by.
She appeared before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the sub-divisional magistrate on March 30. She was sent to a children's home at the Nirmal Chhaya complex.
The Vermas had applied for anticipatory bail on Monday but a Dwarka district court rejected it pointing out that the case had to be investigated and the petitioners were required ‘for custodial investigation.’
Couple’s counsel said the girl was not a minor. She had been provided with a duplicate key and proper rations, and the nature of her work was not hazardous.