Tortured, starved maid faints at employer's doorstep

Tortured by her employer and denied food for four days, an 18-year-old woman was finally rescued by the Wadala police with the help of local residents on Saturday, after she was found lying in an unconscious state just outside Julian Alps Apartments in Bhakti Park.

Baha Hansada Maheshwar was rescued by the Wadala police with the help of local residents who found her unconscious outside Julian Alps Apartments in Bhakti Park

The woman, identified as Baha Hansada Maheshwar, was employed as a stay-at-home maid by Aarti Vikas Baple. According to a statement made by the teenaged girl, she was tortured by her employers, if she didn't do her work properly and not given food as punishment. The accused has been booked for wrongful confinement but is yet to be arrested.

According to initial investigations, Baple hired Maheshwar through a placement agency. Senior police inspector BR Pande from Wadala Truck Terminal police station said, "Maheshwar is originally hails from Jharkand. She had gone to Delhi and requested her brother's friend to give her a job. This friend, who runs a placement agency, recommended her to Aarti's house in Mumbai."

According to Pande, the young woman speaks Hindi in a different dialect and had arrived in the city just 14 days ago. In her complaint, she said Aarti didn't give her food for the whole day, if she didn't do a particular work to her liking. She alleged that her employer had not given her food for the last four days, as a result of which she fainted when she tried to escape from the house.

Locals found the maid lying unconscious yesterday and immediately called the police control room for further enquiry.u00a0Baple has been booked under sections 341, 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (criminal intimidation) and 506 (intentional insult) of the Indian Penal Code.