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In a shocking case of extreme humiliation and torture in the national capital, a 43-year-old woman domestic help has alleged that she was locked in a room and then stripped naked over allegations of stealing gold ornaments.
The housemaid, in a complaint to the Delhi Police on August 10, said she was working at a house in South Delhi for the past two years and her husband was also employed there as a security guard. "Around 10 months ago, the house owner's gold ornaments went missing and she suspected the servants of stealing it. On August 9 at around 3 pm, she called some occultist to the house to find the thief. The occultist asked all the servants to keep rice and limestone powder in their mouth and whosoever's rice turns red is the thief," the victim woman's complaint to the Delhi Police, accessed by IANS, read. She further said that these two things turned red in her mouth after which the house owner and her mother dragged her and locked her up in a room after tying her hands and feet. "They kept demanding my confession for hours and then left me there in the same state with both my hands and feet tied. The next morning at around 8 am, four people -- the house mistress Gurlez, the owner, their mother and sister-in-law -- entered the room and stripped me naked and thrashed me with slippers and belan'," the FIR lodged by the woman read. In a bid to escape the torture, the victim woman said that she confessed to stealing the ornaments and told them that she has hidden the stolen material at her village house, after which the house owners sent her husband to bring back the ornaments. "Later I told them that I want to use the washroom and then they handed me back my clothes and took me to my room for searching other things. During the search, I found rat poison and kept it with myself. After undergoing this extreme humiliation, I had decided to end my life and consumed that rat poison," the victim woman said. The woman further alleged that after consuming the poison, she started having stomach ache but the owners then left her tied on an open ground. As her condition kept deteriorating, the other domestic help took her to the Cronus Hospital. Confirming the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Benita Mary Jaiker said the police received the information about the woman from Cronus Hospital after she was admitted there. "The police reached the hospital at Chhatarpur and found the said woman being treated by the doctors. Initially, she was declared unfit for statement," the DCP said. Later, the woman's statement was recorded wherein she revealed the gory details of the torture. Based on her complaint, the police have registered an FIR under Sections 330, 323, 341, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. DCP Jaiker informed that on Monday, the police made their first arrest in the case. "One of the accused, namely Seema Khatoon (28), has been arrested," the officer said, adding that efforts are being made to nab the other accused in the case. (Ujwal Jalali can be reached at ujwal.j@ians.in) --IANS uj/arm ( 552 Words) 2022-08-15-20:46:06 (IANS)
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