This story is from June 16, 2018

Delhi: For migrant girls, it's not a match 'maid' in heaven

Delhi: For migrant girls, it's not a match 'maid' in heaven
Photo used for representational purpose only
NEW DELHI: The recent killing of a 16-year-old domestic worker from Jharkhand, whose body was chopped into pieces and dumped in a drain, shocked Delhi. But it wasn’t the sole indicator of the many dangers migrant girls face in the city. Voluntary organisation Shakti Vahini has established that between 2013 and now, nearly 30 domestic workers aged 13 to 32 years died in unusual circumstances in the capital.

According to the data collected by the NGO through media reports, ground verification and enquiries at police stations, the deaths were due to alleged suicide, murder, fall from high-rise buildings, internal injuries.
In some cases, the deaths are still shrouded in mystery. Only in one case of an 18-year-old from Jharkhand was it reported that she had died in hospital due to an ailment. Most of the girls were below the age of 20 years, eight of them minors below 18. Nine were residents of Jharkhand and seven from West Bengal. Others came from Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Nagaland.
Speaking to TOI, Ravi Kant, president, Shakti Vahini, reiterated most of these were not natural deaths. He made a strong pitch for central legislation to combat human trafficking as well as the regulation of placement agencies through state laws.
The NGO also carried out a parallel study of the status of 174 domestic workers in Delhi since 2010. “The case studies expose how economically disadvantaged girls and women are lured, coerced into, abducted or kidnapped and sold as domestic workers,” said Kant. The analysis said, “Of these, 66% involved minor victims brought from the north and north-eastern areas of the country through illegal methods by registered and unregistered private placement agencies. Employers paid hefty commissions up to Rs 50,000 to agents for providing hired labour.”

The flouting of laws is evident in the figures given in the study. Almost 90% of the victims were lured by the agencies through job offers. The rescued victims were denied wages in 99% of the cases. When detected, in 80% of the cases only general diary entries without FIRs were filed at police stations, significantly reducing the scope for investigation. Where FIRs were filed, 40% were based on legal provisions for trafficking and for kidnapping and abduction.
The research found that information about sexual assault, rape and harassment was rarely and reluctantly disclosed by the rescued women, mainly due to the fear, stigma and trauma this entailed.
As for why domestic workers fail to get justice, Shakti Vahini’s analysis pointed that since house work is uncategorised and undefined, application of general labour laws and accountability of employers are restricted.
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