Delhi horror: 16-year-old domestic help rescued after being branded with hot iron, forced into 20-hour shifts

New Delhi: A 16-year-old girl employed as a domestic help was rescued by authorities after allegedly being confined, starved, and subjected to severe physical abuse for nearly a year at a house in southeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, police said on Saturday.

Following the rescue, police registered a case at the Shaheen Bagh police station under relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and arrested the employer, a 45-year-old woman.

The matter came to light after an alert neighbour contacted a child helpline regarding the teenager’s condition. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Kalkaji was alerted, prompting a joint rescue operation on Tuesday involving the local police, the labour department, and child rights NGO Association for Voluntary Action (AVA).

Gruelling routine, starvation, and severe burns

Although the team raided the Shaheen Bagh residence on Tuesday, the girl was not found there. Investigators soon discovered that the employer had sent her to Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh to care for an elderly relative. The team tracked her down, brought her back, and produced her before the SDM and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

In her statement before the CWC, the teenager said she was forced to work 20-hour shifts daily, from 6 am to 2 am. She alleged that she was beaten over minor errors and branded repeatedly across her back, hands, and hips with a hot iron and a heated knife. Police confirmed that she had multiple burn marks, deep head wounds, and facial injuries. The committee directed her immediate admission to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for treatment. She also stated that she was once starved and denied water for three consecutive days.

Strict isolation and threats

The minor, whose family lives in a nearby JJ cluster in Delhi, was paid merely Rs 18,000 for nearly a full year of labour and survived mostly on leftovers. Her employer allegedly allowed her to contact her parents only two or three times over the entire year; during one video call, her face was covered to conceal her visible injuries.

Officials stated that the girl was also threatened with death if she spoke about the abuse to anyone. Legal proceedings have now been initiated under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act alongside the Juvenile Justice Act. Despite the trauma, the teenager told the committee that she wants to see the accused punished, return to school, and eventually become a teacher.