Bangalore: Minor domestic help whipped for tasting master’s 'boondi'

The underage domestic help with a sweet tooth could not help tasting the boondi her employer had ordered her to bring home from a nearby shop.

The 17-year-old was so brutally whipped that she ran away from the home. The incident happened in Benson Town on Thursday night. She is now in a juvenile home after being treated for injuries.  

The girl’s parents filed a police complaint on Friday. Her employer faces charges for violation of Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act and Juvenile Justice Act. An assault case has also been lodged against him.

The girl is the second daughter of Afsal Basha, an auto-rickshaw driver, and Tasina Taj. The couple had four children. Poverty drove them to send their daughter to work in Zabeer’s house at Benson Town. “We are very poor. We could not provide our children even the basic needs. So I left my daughter to work,” said Afsal.

Since moving alone at night was risky, she decided to spend the night under a parked car that belonged to a high court advocate staying near her employer's house.

 After some time, the advocate, Mansoor AS, wanted to go out and was surprised to find a girl under the car.

“She was lying under the car and was crying. I asked her what happened,” said Mansoor. “She showed me the whip marks. There were more than six cuts on her back, head, eyes and face. Who did this, I asked her and pat came her reply ‘Zafeer, (the employer’s son),” Mansoor said.

“When I tried to take her to her employer, she was so scared she fell on my feet saying ‘Please, don’t’. So I took her to police station. After informing police, I took her to Bowring hospital at 12.45 am on Friday. Later I left the girl in the state juvenile home near Kidwai cancer institute,” he said.

The girl’s parents told DNA  they did not know what had happened to their daughter.

“The employer called me and said my daughter was missing and asked me to come to the police station to file a complaint. But after coming to the police station, I found that my daughter was badly beaten up by Zafeer,” said Afsal.

Z Zafeer, 26, is engaged in granite business.The employer gave a different story.

“The girl’s parents left her in our house a few years ago. We did not beat her and this is not the first time she left home. Earlier, two times she ran away from the house after which we had asked her parents to take her to their house. But Afsal pleaded with us to keep her in our house. Out of pity, we agreed,” Zabeer said.
He also alleged that the girl was mentally unstable.
“She used to do things which we told her not to. Still, we did not beat her,” he said.

An FIR has been filed in this regard.
The girl was taken to Bowring hospital on Friday for medical tests and to check her age since her parents did not have any document to prove her age.

Paltry wage
The minor girl has been working at Zabeer’s home for the past six years for a paltry monthly wage of `500.

Her father Afsal visited the home every month to collect the pay, part of which he spent on alcohol, said a police official. Her saviour, advocate Mansoor AS, was furious at her employer.

“Even if the girl has tasted boondi, what was wrong!” he said.
 According to Zabeer, the girl said she was going to fetch water and never came back home.

“We searched for her the whole night and in the morning informed her parents,” he said.

 Afsal squarely blamed his daughter’s employer.

  “They beat her so badly she had injuries all over her body. Now they claim she has stolen gold jewellery,” said Taj, her mother. “We wanted our daughter back. But they found some excuse to keep her with them,” she said.