Plight of domestic helps
Torturing domestic help is seemingly on the rise in this country. This disturbing phenomenon has been ignored and swept under the carpet for far too long. An agency report carried in this newspaper yesterday said that police arrested a couple on Saturday on charge of attempting to murder their teenage domestic help by burning her at home in Mulatol area in Rangpur city. Police rescued the victim, Purnima Rani Roy (12), and admitted her to the Burn Unit of Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in a critical condition. However, most victims of similar offences do not get any help and are forced to suffer in silence.
Repression on domestic help on various pretexts makes newspaper headlines very often. It is quite worrying to note that when a minor girl like Purnima should be at school with books to enlighten herself she is forced to slog at others household to keep body and soul together. It is simply unacceptable that a girl of such a tender age is engaged to work as a domestic help.
Girls like Purnima belong to the most vulnerable segment of the society that is exposed to the harshest realities of life from a very early age. Their position makes them vulnerable to repression and other forms of inhuman treatment perpetrated by the people belonging to the advantageous class.
There are people who get perverse delight in torturing their domestic helps without rhyme or reason. There are also incidents of violation of modesty of housemaids. Many do not feel that domestic helps are also human beings and deserve empathy. Here the question of humanity takes a back seat. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of awareness, social discrimination, scant respect for human rights and some other factors are responsible for such an appalling state of this disadvantaged section of society.
Many domestic helps have to endure brutal tortures silently since they cannot go back to their impoverished parents. Many of them are deserted by their husbands. Steeped in illiteracy, many women have no other way to earn money. The government should address the menace properly. Conscious sections of the society, particularly various rights groups, should raise sustained voice against repression on domestic helps. Generation of mass awareness, empowerment of women, and creation of more employment opportunities for them can help reduce the menace.
