Representative imageKasaragod: A seven-year-old girl was allegedly tortured and forced into domestic work by a family in Kumbala, near here, said the police.
The incident came to light when local people took the girl to the police station after she escaped from the house unable to bear the torture. The Women’s Cell CI has instructed the Kumbala police to register a case against the house owner, who lives along with his mother.
It was the girl’s mother, who used to work as a domestic help for the same family, who sent her to the household on February 20. The victim was a second standard student of a government school near Periya.
The child narrated her woes to the police alleging that she was made to do all kinds of household work after the employer’s mother went to visit a relative two days ago. The man denied her food and beat her with a sandal, she told the police. He also put a knife to her throat threatening to kill her if she failed to do the work and her hair was cut forcibly.
The girl managed to escape from the house on February 25. Seeing the shabbily dressed child who was crying uncontrollably, the local people took her to the nearest police station. A police team, led by Women’s Cell CI P. V. Nirmala, launched a probe into the alleged torture she faced at the hands of her employer.
After a medical examination at the District Hospital in Kanhangad, the District Child Welfare Committee took the custody of the victim and sent her to the Mahila Mandiram near Paravana.
The child, who was forced to go to the school on an empty stomach, had reportedly fainted during classes a few weeks ago. The mother sent her to work as domestic help, hoping that at least that way she would get food to eat.
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