Mohd Naushad Khan talks to social and human rights activists and thinkers who point out the causes of violence against domestic workers and suggest ways and means to formalise their work and wages to safeguard their dignity.
In India, the domestic work force has always remained vulnerable as it has very little protection and is subjected to violence and torture. The plight of this force came to light when the news of a 14-year-old domestic worker, who was employed by a couple in Gurugram has recently been saved after going through five months of horrific abuse and torture at the hands of her employers, hit the headlines.
The minor girl was frequently beaten, burned with hot metal tongs, smacked on her genital, held in a state of near hunger, forbidden from speaking to her relatives, and not given any compensation for the gruelling job she was forced to perform. Manish Khattar and Kamaljeet Kaur, the couple who held the girl captive and tortured her, have been detained under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing harm), 342 (wrongful confinement), 75 (cruelty to children), and 79 (exploitation of a child employee) of the Juvenile Justice Act, as well as Section 12 (sexual harassment of children) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Altaf Ahmad, a social and human rights activist, who is Co-Founder of Gurgaon Nagrik Ekta Manch (Multi-Faith Gurgaon Citizens Initiative), said, “Exploitation of domestic workers receives attention only when such random cases as this incident of violence from Gurgaon get reported in the media. This public outcry is short-lived and no concrete steps taken by the policymakers to ensure that no such incidents happen in future. Exploitation of these domestic workers is rampant all around; however, as a society we have turned our eyes off them. Even if they go to police station seeking help, they are not taken seriously unless they accompany some NGO or social activist. I have had first hand experiences of such incidents where domestic workers were turned back whenever they reach out to police stations.”
He added, “The system of getting domestic help/ worker is mostly unregulated and runs like a racket by the agencies who provide these workers. Even in all those cases where employers of such workforce are fair to these domestic workers,they fall prey to these agencies who net most of the money and very little reaches in the hands of workers who had to migrate only to find some means of living. Women who migrate from poorer states, with a hope to find a job to support their family are often mistreated by their employers, not just in India, but across the globe. In India, most particularly, there is this traditional divide between the ‘servants’ and ‘masters’.”
Mental, physical or sexual abuse of these women is not uncommon. Infact, this is the most unregulated sector. These women are often exploited by labour agents and employers. Illiteracy, lack of awareness, and social inequality push these poor women to migrate and take a job of a domestic worker in order to sustain their livelihood. Maid abuse is well known but nothing concrete is done to stop this abuse. This is an important global issue. Absence of legal protection is the main cause of these women getting exploited and abused.
These women find it very difficult to report sexual harassment or any type of abuse and remain silent due to power dynamics and fear of dismissal. The effective implementation of laws for the welfare and progress of these domestic helps is the need of the hour. We need to have an inclusive environment. This mentality of servants and masters should not exist in our society. The abuse cases show that much more needs to be done to protect the hundreds of thousands of domestic helps here. There is a need to make paradigm shift in legal approach, too.
According to Mrs. Rahamathunnissa A, National Secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Chief Editor of Aura magazine, “It cannot be taken as an isolated case. It is not the first of its kind. Many girls and women undergo this kind of torture within the fourwalls of many households where they work as domestic labourers. It’s the modern form of slavery and since it is an unorganised sector and these women are illiterate or less educated and belong to marginalised communities, most of such atrocities are normalised and they silently bear due to fear of more torture if they speak up or complain.”
The JIH Ladies Department Secretary further said, “There is no shortcut remedy. The root cause has to be addressed. Lack of free access to education as promised by the Constitution, the attitude of society towards women and caste system are the root causes. Caste and political affiliations are always taken into consideration in such cases. Without addressing them, one can’t expect a complete change in the lives of such girls. Also, domestic labour has to be more formalised with proper registration, transparency and written agreement on minimum wage, working hours and other benefits to safeguard their dignity.”
On the way forward, Mrs. Rahamathunnissa said, “Educated couples doing such heinous crimes indicate the failure of our education system in inculcating values. The government should take immediate steps on establishing daycare and creche facilities within campuses and other work premises so that the working mothers need not have to depend upon such girls for taking care of their children. Those who are mature enough can be hired in such child care centresonly after proper training. This will facilitate domestic workers to work in a more systematic and monitored environment. In this particular case, the girl had to leave her home and work in order to get money for her brother’s treatment. This again points out the failure of our governments in providing health services to the poor and needy free of cost at the right time.”
According to data available, India has witnessed a 120 percent increase in domestic workers in the decade post liberalisation as the figure was 7,40,000 domestic workers in 1991, which has increased to 16.6 lakh in 2001. As per figure released by Delhi Labour Organisation, there are over five crore domestic workers in India of which most of them are women.
The Domestic Workers’ Welfare and Social Security Bill, which discusses securing domestic workers’ rights by establishing a board at district-to-state-to-central government levels, has been introduced to defend their rights. However, because the Bill was not passed, no orders covering minimum wages, set working hours, leaves, social security, maternity leave, childcare, work environment, remuneration, and other allowances have been given. Only two laws in the nation give domestic employees the status of ‘labour’. They are the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act of 2013, and the Unorganised Labour Social Security Act of 2008. However, none of the statutes mentions a framework for the legal protection of domestic employees’ rights.
Gurgaon based Sajid Nomani, who is working with Business Services Company, said, “Gurgaon domestic worker case came as a big blow to our society. It bears the truth that humanity is dying at a greater pace now. We need domestic help to let us focus on other priorities in life. This should never mean that they should be taken for granted. If we abuse our authority which is provided to us then we would certainly face divine action. Divine law is much more powerful than man made laws. It spares no one, young or old, rich or poor, famous or unknown. When the time comes, the divine law would always do justice. No matter how hard we try we can never rule out the divine law.”
Nomani further said, “This should come as a lesson for people who are blind with riches and power. It just takes less than a second to lose everything we have. Coming on to the situation, yes, it is pathetic. There is a lot of harassment that poor people face from affluent people and people in power. At the end of the day, we should all realise that the same creator who created them has created us, too. All that He has provided to us, He has all the ability to provide them, too. Don’t wait for justice to prevail. Reform oneself beforehand and first of all be a normal human being then run for fame, power or money.”