Girl flees abusive household

11-year-old maid spent night on a park bench before being rescued

An 11-year-old girl was found in a  park in Rohini on Wednesday, with injury marks on her back and a sordid story to tell about being sent from Jharkhand to Delhi to work as a maid at a home where they beat her up as a matter of routine.

The girl had fled from the house on Tuesday evening and spent the night – wearing no warm clothes - on a bench in a park in sector-18 of west Delhi's Rohini. On Wednesday afternoon a sweeper found her, still asleep, and informed a local activist.
Injury marks on her back indicated she had been thrashed with a belt. She later told activists that she was hit with a belt by members of the household whenever they caught her smiling.

The child has been presented before the Delhi's Child Welfare Committee, An FIR will be lodged against her employees on Thursday, activists told Deccan Herald.

“We got the child’s medical examination done at Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini on Wednesday evening. The reports do not suggest sexual abuse. However, injuries can be seen on her back which suggest that she was beaten up with a belt,” said a member of Sampoorn NGO.

According to the statement  by the victim before the NGO and welfare committee, she and her brother were brought to Delhi from their village near Ranchi by a woman called Sushma three months back.

Sushma had promised better living facilities, food, a mobile phone and Rs 2,000 a month for working as domestic help in Delhi. The girl's mother agreed to send her children away because of poverty.  But her employers never gave her money or clothes but beat her up regularly, according to her statement.

“The child has revealed that the trafficker had taken her to an office which suggests that there is a placement agency involved. We have not received any information about her brother yet. Child trafficking has become a big issue these days in Delhi,” said Dr Shoba Vijendra, former CWC member, who was present when the girl recorded her statement.

The girl has refused to return to her village as she does not want to be beaten up by her alcoholic father back home.

Eight child workers rescued from restaurants, auto repair shop
Eight children working as bonded labourers in restaurants, dhabas and an automobile repair shop were rescued in north-east Delhi on Wednesday afternoon.

The police have arrested five employers and sealed their restaurants and shops.
The rescued children were aged between 10 and 15 years and were trafficked from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. “These children were working for 10 to 12 hours everyday.

They were not paid any money and their activities were regularly monitored,” said Varun Pathak, city coordinator of Childline from Salaam Baalak Trust. The children wore few clothes for winter.

“Six children were rescued from Annapurna restaurant and a dhaba in Shahadra and two from Pandit automobile shop in Welcome,” Pathak said.

“We have filed an FIR under Juvenile Justice Act, IPC and Bonded Labour Act. These children were rescued from different places and were trafficked. We are trying to investigate and locate the traffickers,” said S S Hassan, assistant commissioner of police (Shahadra). 

Police will allow the shops to be re-opened only after a fine of Rs 20,000 is paid.