Mistreatment of domestic workers by middle-class Indians is widespread, helped by the traffickers who bring rural women and children to the cities on unkept promises of good jobs and fair pay
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An Indian parliamentarian and his wife have been arrested after their maid was found dead in their home in the capital, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday.
Dhananjay Singh, MP for the opposition Bhahujan Samaj Party, has been charged with concealing evidence and his wife Jagriti Singh has been charged with murder, the report said, adding that another worker in their home had witnessed the crime and told police about it.
Singh has denied the charges against him and his wife, the report said.
Physical abuse of domestic workers is common among middle-class Indians and there are numerous reports of employers mistreating their maids – failing to pay them or give them proper food and shelter, making them work long hours with no holidays and even locking them up when holidaying.
Women and children have also been beaten and sexually abused by traffickers who bring them from impoverished villages to cities to work for the growing middle class.
Last month, newspapers said an airhostess was arrested in New Delhi for questioning about reports she had employed a 12-year-old rural girl as a maid and mistreated her, beating her with a belt, starving her and locking her up.
Also last month, an Indian woman was charged with severely beating her 15-year-old domestic worker, inflicting knife wounds on her head and hands.
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