New Delhi: Alone, scared, hungry and unable to bear it any longer, 13-year-old Sweetie (name changed) cried out for help.

The teenaged housemaid had been locked up by her employers — a married couple who are both doctors — in their apartment.

The couple, Drs Sanjay and Sumita Verma, then went on vacation to Thailand, leaving Sweetie to look after their home in Sector 6 of Delhi colony Dwarka.

The cries of the hungry child alerted other maids and neighbours at Hahnemann Apartments, who called a non-governmental organisation, Shakti Vahini, which, aided by the police and the fire department, rescued the child.

The rescue operation was tough. Since the door had been locked from the outside, the fire department used a ladder to rescue the inconsolable child from the apartment.

Produced before the sub-divisional magistrate, the teenage housemaid recalled how her employers, just before leaving for Bangkok, had rationed food for her.

"They threatened to beat me if anything fell short. There [was] also a camera installed in the house to keep a watch on me."

Rations run out

Sweetie said the rations were not enough and that she survived on water during her employers' absence. She also revealed that she had been forbidden to sit anywhere else in the house apart from the floor.

An official of the Child Welfare Committee, in whose custody Sweetie has been put, told Gulf News: "She told us that she was regularly beaten up with a scale and her hair pulled out by the doctor couple [over] petty matters. Due to this, she had some bald patches on her head... She was [also] made to eat chappatis and rarely given vegetables or dal."

In addition, she was made to do all household chores, including cleaning utensils, washing and ironing the clothes. Sweetie allegedly had not been paid over the last seven to eight months that she had been employed by the couple, who have a young daughter.

"A resident of Village Gumla in Jharkhand, Sweetie was forced out of her school by her uncle, who later passed her on to a trafficker," the child welfare official said.

"She was pushed into domestic work through a placement agency. And presumably, the salary was being given to the uncle."

A resident of Dwarka said: "We had suspected Sweetie was being ill-treated. She seldom came out of the house and I once saw burn marks on her face."