Date:24/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/24/stories/2008112460650300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Boy beaten up; case against employer

Staff Reporter

Accused is absconding: police

Bangalore: A 13-year-old boy from Raichur buying a bun priced at Rs. 5 from his employer’s money did not know it would cost him more than that when he came back to work on Saturday.

The boy, who has been working as a domestic help for the past two years in the household of Basavaraje Gowda was beaten up allegedly by his employers at their residence in the Central Excise Colony in Sanjaynagar here. According to his relatives and the Sanjaynagar police, the boy was given Rs. 20 and asked to buy a loaf of bread by Lata, wife of Basavaraje Gowda. Along with the bread, he bought a bun for Rs. 5 for himself. After he gave back Ms. Lata a balance of Rs. 2 instead of Rs. 7, she allegedly assaulted him.

“Even after he said that he bought a bun because he had not eaten anything since morning, she assaulted him. The boy collapsed after being assaulted and took three hours to recover,” a senior officer of Sanjaynagar police told The Hindu.

According to him, after the incident, the accused, Mr. Basavaraje Gowda and Ms. Lata, took him to M.S. Ramaiah Hospital. However, the hospital refused to treat the boy without a police complaint. Later, the accused couple contacted the Sanjaynagar police, and the boy was taken to the Government Boys’ Home on Hosur Road in the early hours of Sunday.

On Sunday, the boy was taken to the Sanjaynagar Police Station where he lodged a complaint with the police.

“We have registered a case against Ms. Lata, who is absconding since Sunday morning, under Section 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986,” M. Nagaraj, Inspector of Sanjaynagar Police Station, said.

However, a relative of the boy’s said that the Sanjaynagar police were under pressure from the family of the accused and were trying to protect them.

Prakash Iyappa, fact-finding coordinator, of the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM), said that SICHREM was going to file a complaint against the accused Ms. Lata with the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission.