Minor girl rescued from her employer’s clutches

Pune: Members of a non-government organization, Sakhee, and the Haveli police on Sunday rescued a 12-year-old girl from the clutches of a man, forcing her to work at his Sinhagad Road residence as a domestic help.

A team headed by advocate Anjali Pawar, who is leading the non-government organization (NGO), rescued the girl on Sunday afternoon from an upscale housing complex on Sinhagad Road. The girl from Barshi in Solapur district was being tortured by her employer from May 2016.

The suspect and his wife used to beat up the girl regularly. She cried loudly every day, Pawar told TOI. The girl was forced to cook food, wash clothes and take care of children, Pawar said.

A source in the Haveli police said a case had been registered against the employer of the child. The suspect and his family members have fled the scene.

Pawar said the NGO members had kept a watch on the house from June. After a few days, it was confirmed that the family members were inflicting torture and injuries to her.

It is suspected that the child's employer had given some loan to her father. The girl's father, a farmer, failed to repay the loan and the suspect could have forcibly brought her to Pune from her village in Barshi taluka.

"The girl has given a statement to the police. The cops are searching for her employer now," Pawar said.

A couple of weeks ago, the girl managed to escape from the suspect's house. But the security guards of the housing complex and the suspect managed to track her down, Pawar said.

She said the suspect ran an NGO and claimed that he was fighting against corruption.

"The girl is a school dropout. Her employer did not send her to any school. He denied her education," she said.

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