The LB Nagar Police, accompanied by child rights activists, rescued a 19-year-old girl from her house in the Fathulaguda locality in the Nagole area where she had been confined, physically tortured and made to work as a slave by her step-mother and father for several months.
The hapless girl has burns all over her body caused by live cigarette butts, and gaping wounds and contusions.
The horrifying incident came to light when the victim, unable to bear the torture meted out to her by her step-mother, reached out to the Child Labour Commission.
The police, accompanied by the local NGO, rushed to the spot and rescued her on Tuesday evening, and admitted her to a corporate hospital for treatment.
The victim's father Ramesh, a Junior Telecom Officer, has been living in L B Nagar with his second wife Chamundeshwari after the death of his first wife. The girl Pratyusha said that after she had lost her mother in her childhood, she was admitted to an orphanage, but was later brought back by the duo to do household works. In the process, the stepmother allegedly subjected her to various forms of torture.
L B Nagar police inspector E Srinivas Reddy said the victim had given a statement that over the last seven months she had been tortured and subjected to intense physical harassment by her stepmother and father. The victim has alleged that her parents used to throw acid on her and beat her with a hot iron rod.
The police detained the stepmother and are questioning her. The girl's father is absconding. (NSS)