Dalit woman working as domestic help of DMK MLA's son alleges torture

An 18-year-old Dalit woman who works as a domestic help at the house of Tamil Nadu DMK MLA I Karunanithi's son has alleged that she was physically tortured and was denied medical care by her employers. However, Karunanithi denied the woman's claims and said his son's family used to treat her well and only "pulled her up after she did something wrong".

In a video shared by Evidence, a non-profit organisation, the Dalit woman said she completed 12th grade and got employed as a domestic help through an agent. She was working at the house of Karunanithi’s son Anto Mathivanan and his wife Marlina in Chennai.

She said she had been employed at the house for seven months and her employers used to "physically assault" her in "whatever way they wished to". She also added that she was not paid her wages.

"Even if I don’t do the smallest task properly, they would slap me on my face. Once, they asked me to prepare food by 6 am because they were going out of town. I hadn’t slept till 2 am the previous night. Nobody can survive without sleeping. I could only get up by 7 am. Because I couldn’t keep the food ready, they burnt my hands using a hair straightener,” the woman said, while breaking down.

She added that her employers did not take her to the hospital no matter how much they "tortured" her or how much she bled. “I had to treat it myself,” she added.

The woman also said the couple threatened her, saying they come from an "MLA's family" and nobody would come to her help if she told anyone about the alleged torture.

The issue came to light when the girl was dropped off at her house during Pongal. Her family took her to a government hospital in Ulundurpet after they noticed she had injury marks on her body.

The hospital alerted the police after assessing her injury. However, police told India Today TV that they have not received any complaints from the woman or her family.

“We got information from the government hospital and based on that, we reached out to them. But a formal complaint is yet to be filed either in Chennai or in Ulundurpet," said an official.

Meanwhile, the DMK MLA denied the allegations against his family and said they were helping her study and also got her jewellery.

“I usually don’t go there (to his son’s house). The girl had apparently done something wrong, and they pulled her up for that. They are helping her to study. She is taking online classes. They have also got her jewellery and other things," said Karunanithi.

"I can share videos of how they kept her well, celebrated her birthday and all," he added.

Karunanithi alleged that the woman was in touch with someone over the phone and "someone in the background" was making her raise the allegations against his family. However, he added that he has "no connection" to the entire incident as he doesn't visit his son's house often.

The DMK MLA also said the woman already had injury marks when she first came to work for his son.