A 42-year-old teacher with an M.Phil degree was sentenced to six years’ rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of `1 lakh by a Delhi court for inflicting severe physical abuse on her 17-year-old domestic help leading to the girl’s death in March 2007.
Holding her responsible for the death of Sunita Bhengra, who was hired through a placement agency, additional sessions judge Dr Kamini Lau convicted the teacher, Ashu Malhotra, a mother of three school-going children, including two girls, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Dr Lau said, “Abusive and exploitative employers need to be severely dealt with and punished through the justice system. This is a case where Sunita, a young domestic worker from Jharkhand, has been subjected to physical abuse. Forty-three injuries found on her body during the post-mortem speak volumes about the repeated physical trauma and suffering the teenager must have faced before her death.”
Dr Lau also ordered that the sum of `1 lakh recovered from Ashu should be paid to Sunita’s family as compensation. As per the prosecution, on the intervening night of March 2-3, 2007, the placement agency received a call from Ashu’s husband, Rajesh, saying that Sunita’s condition was critical. The agency’s staff arrived at the house and found Sunita was still breathing but she died on the way to hospital.
A post-mortem report found 43 injuries on her body. The cause of death was said to be “concussion of the brain produced by blunt force to the head.”
The prosecution further submitted that the injuries were allegedly caused by beating with a washing stick. It was also alleged that Ashu and her husband, who was acquitted of the charge of destruction of evidence, did not provide medical help to the victim and tried to conceal her injuries.