Chandigarh: Parents of 11-year-old domestic help left her four years ago, says police

On Monday, police had booked the husband-wife duo of Manish Srivastva and Ranjana Srivastva for employing the girl as a domestic maid. They are residents of Shivalik Society in Sector 49. Godwani said it was not right to employ minors at home as domestic help. “The couple definitely committed a mistake by keeping the girl but the parents are equally responsible for abandoning her,” he added.

In her statement before Childline, the girl said that she was unhappy and did not want to stay with her grandmother. Sharing more details, Godwani said, “She had a fight with her grandmother. When her father noticed the regular fights between the two he thought of leaving his daughter with the couple. The maternal grandparents of the girl used to work at the house earlier.” The girl had started working at the house from September 3.

The couple had gone to Gurgaon to visit their son and had taken the girl along. On their way back, Pramod Sharma, member, Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR), who was travelling in the same train reported the matter to Childline, which swung into action soon after the complaint.