An 18-year-old Dalit woman from the Kallakurichi region of Tamil Nadu has disclosed to the police that she suffered abuse and was refused medical care while working as a domestic helper in a Chennai home. Notably, she was employed by Anto Mathivanan and Marlina, the son and daughter-in-law of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and MLA I Karunanithi.
The victim in a video released by the nonprofit organisation Evidence revealed that she finished her 12th grade and was hired as a domestic helper using an agency. She was employed in Anto Mathivanan and his wife Marlina’s home in Chennai. She further mentioned that her salary had not been reimbursed.
She complained, “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,” while narrating her ordeal.
She pointed out, “I was 17 years old when I was taken to do domestic work and beaten with things like slippers, spoons, broom and mops, leaving bloody wounds all over my body,” in her report. She expressed that out of the two, the daughter-in-law harassed her more by abusing her and chopping off her hair. Her family is not well off, so she worked to earn money as she studied for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) to study medicine. She finished Class 12 last year with 433 marks out of 600. Her mother was employed in another Chennai home as a domestic staff. She unveiled that even though she was promised a Rs 16,000 monthly income, she only received Rs 5000.
She highlighted that they refused to take her to the hospital regardless of how much they “tortured” her or how much she bled and added, “I had to treat it myself.” Furthermore, she divulged that the couple had threatened her. They told her they were from an “MLA’s family” and no one would rescue her even if she notified anybody about her situation.
The girl had returned to her family members in Ulundurpet, Kallakurichi for the Pongal festival holidays when the torment came to light. Her family saw that she had marks from injuries on her body and brought her to a government hospital in Ulundurpet. According to the police, she went to a government hospital and received treatment for abrasions as an outpatient. The hospital alerted the Ulundurpet police who then informed the Adyar police in Chennai and registered it in their accident registration. Police, however, stated that neither the woman nor her family had made any complaints to them.
An official informed, “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 Ulundurpet.” An Adyar police officer who wished to remain anonymous stated, “We sent a lady police officer to record a statement from her (the victim).”
The statement was captured from 10 pm on 17th January beyond midnight. However, the victim has subsequently written another complaint to Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal, as no First Information Report (FIR) has been filed at this point.
Vincent Raj, an anti-caste activist based in Madurai stated that the police have advised them that a formal complaint will be submitted soon. “When she was a minor she was tortured for more than eight months. She turned 18 only last month. The strictest action must be taken,” he demanded.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai also took to social media and posted, “The news that an 18-year-old social girl, who worked at the house of Chennai Pallavaram assembly member Karunanidhi’s son, was severely beaten and burned with cigarettes by the son and daughter-in-law of assembly member Karunanidhi is very shocking.”
He added, “It shows the arrogance of the DMK to attack a young woman who came to work as a domestic worker because medical education will help her study and because of a simple family situation. It is also revealed that after claiming Rs.16,000 per month, they have paid only Rs.5,000 for all these months. I urge on behalf of BJP Tamil Nadu that an immediate, speedy investigation be conducted and action be taken against the culprits under the Prevention of Atrocities Act.”
சென்னை பல்லாவரம் தொகுதி சட்டமன்ற உறுப்பினர் கருணாநிதி அவர்களின் மகன் வீட்டில் வேலை செய்த, 18 வயது பட்டியல் சமூக இளம்பெண், சட்டமன்ற உறுப்பினர் கருணாநிதியின் மகன் மற்றும் மருமகளால் கடுமையாகத் தாக்கப்பட்டும், சிகரெட்டால் சூடு வைத்தும் துன்புறுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளார் என்ற செய்தி மிகுந்த…
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) January 18, 2024
Karunanithi, however, refuted the woman’s allegations and claimed that his son’s family had treated the young woman nicely and had only “pulled her up after she did something wrong.” He alleged that they were helping her in their studies in addition to giving her jewellery. “I usually don’t go there (to his son’s house). The girl had 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.”
