Writhing in pain, eight-year-old Rajitha, an orphan lies bruised and bandaged on the bed of a government hospital in Andhra Pradesh's Mahabubnagar district, reports DNA.
Rajitha is one of those several cases of orphans, who are battered by the employers, in whose homes they work as domestic helps.
Rajitha was staying at a shelter house for children called Residential Bridge Course (RBC) Centre, run by one Premnath at Bhoothpur in the same district a few years ago. Premnath shut the centre about six months ago, for alleged want of funds from the government.
All inmates of RBC except Rajitha and two other minor orphans, returned to their parents. Premnath sent Rajitha to work as a maid in one Narayana's house in Bhoothpur. Narayana and his wife allegedly beat Rajitha mercilessly as she could not do household chores. "They did not give me enough food. I was made to scrub vessels, wash clothes and tidy the house. But because I could not do the chores well, they beat me up," Rajitha said.
She was admitted to the hospital in Mahabubnagar with broken bones and several bruises about a fortnight ago. The torture story came to light after local media reported Rajitha's plight. Authorities immediately took note.
Vijayalakshmi, the district project director of Integrated Child Development Services, said, "We will put her [Rajitha] in a children's home after she recovers." Vijayalakshmi has also lodged a police complaint against Premnath and the couple who employed the girl. Mahabubnagar district superintendent of police Sudheer Babu confirmed that a case has been registered against the trio.
