Blunderbuss Firozabad
Made of Pumpkin pie
Poornima and Kaushik Bagchi.
The video of the thrashing is at the link.
It may not look like a hard enough manhandling of these two, but remember, they are Brahmin, the top of the caste system, and the people hitting them are of much lower caste. It's not that it hurts physically, it's that it's a extreme and unthinkable humiliation. Lower castes don't even drink or eat in front of those above them.
The Bagchi's have just had their entire world turned upside down.
And they lost their jobs.
They had promised the father they would educate her, send her to school, feed her well, treat her well well she did their babysitting, that's a common arrangement. The parents saw it as a chance for her to have more opportunities
Employing children as domestic help is prohibited in India, but this rule is repeatedly violated by many.
"A case has been registered against the husband and wife on charges of child labour, physical abuse, and endangerment of a minor. The accused have been arrested for assaulting the minor. Police said the woman works as a pilot in a private airline while her husband is deployed as a ground staff member at another one."
" The 10-year-old girl has been counseled and sent for a medical examination. According to police, the victim has injuries on her eyes and also has burn marks on her body"
"The victim's aunt, who spotted her being beaten up by her employer, claimed that she was passing by the street for work on Wednesday morning when she saw Poornima beating the girl while she was working in the balcony."
"On spotting this, she, along with others, went to the couple's house but they did not come out. It was only after creating a ruckus that they opened the door and let the child come out, the relatives alleged attacking the accused couple.
Some of the women were seen slapping and pulling the hair of the accused woman, who was in her uniform."
" Poornima was heard apologising in the video while Kaushik was seen shielding her from the agitated mob."
" The parents met their daughter for the first time in two months on Friday.
The accused couple — Poornima Bagchi, 33, and Kaushik Bagchi, 36 — had hired the girl as a stay-at-home babysitter for their four-year-old son in May.
But the Bagchis barely allowed any conversation between the parents and their child, the victim’s mother said.
Initially, whenever I called, he [Mr. Bagchi] would make excuses — of being at an airport or attending a function — and not connect me with my daughter.
Of late, he had started to disconnect my calls. When I got anxious and called him up repeatedly, he threatened me with dire consequences,” the victim’s father said."
" "My daughter’s skin has become quite rough as if she hasn’t taken a bath in many weeks. She has also grown pale as she wasn’t fed properly,” the victim’s mother, a domestic worker, said.
“She told us that she was made to wash clothes and utensils and was repeatedly hit on the head with a rolling pin and burnt with a hot iron. She said she’s scared to be alone in a room now,” the victim’s mother said.
The victim’s father said he tried reaching out to his daughter soon after handing her over to Mr. Bagchi.
‘They didn’t let us talk’
" When we met on Friday, after almost eight weeks, we couldn’t stop crying for 15 minutes,” the victim’s father said.
“She said to me today, ‘Papa, I want to become a police officer. I want to fight for girls like me who have been caged.’”"
New laws, more awareness in the nation, is empowering the poor, the lower castes, and women and children not to accept physical abuse.
My daughter’s face was so badly disfigured, I couldn’t recognise her initially: Dwarka victim’s mother
Victim's parents reunite after 8 weeks, find her disfigured with bruises. She was forced to work as a maid, assaulted & burnt with hot iron. Father tried to reach her but was threatened. Reunited, she wants to become a police officer to fight for girls like her.
