Arjun Poudel

Sumnima Kumal, 13, a fifth-grader at Koteshwar Sarswati Higher Secondary School, Kathmandu, was brutally thrashed when she ate beaten rice without the permission of her masters. Kumal, who is originally from Salyan and has been working as a domestic help, said that there was no one in the house whom she could ask for something to eat when she returned from the school. "I was feeling very hungry and I could not stop myself," said Kumal.

She complained that her whole body had swollen due to wounds and scars from the beating at the hands of the enraged landlady. That night she suffered high fever. To cover the crime, master and his wife did not let her go to school the next day. They kept her locked inside the house for five days until she managed to escape. She reached her school and told her teacher that she would not been able to come school for some days as she was not well.

Then she narrated the entire story of torture to her teacher who reported the matter to the police. Kumal´s master and his wife were detained by the police and fined Rs 100,000.

Likewise, Sushil Kamat, 10, of Morang was rescued from Pankaj Pokhrel’s house at Sanepa a few months ago. Pokhrel is a major in the Nepal Army. Kamat´s mother Basanti refused to take the compensation from the Pokhrel family saying that she has enough to feed her children. "I sent my son to them in the hopes that he would get better education than at home, but he got inhuman treatment from the cruel masters," she said.

Kamat had to cook food for himself separately at Pokhrel´s house. His masters did not allow him to cook food twice a day, therefore, he had to eat stale food. According to the Children Women in Social Service and Human Rights (CWISH), the organization that rescued the girl, the family forced her to do all household chores but never allowed to go school. CWISH is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that advocates for the rights of children and women.

Lalita Tiwari, 13, of Rajahar-8 of Nawalparashi has similar tale of suffering and inhuman treatment meted out to her by her masters. She had been working as a domestic help at late leader Rabindranath Sharma´s home. Sharma family had admitted her to a government school in Budhanilakantha but she had to go to school empty stomach. "Sharma´s family eats lunch at one o´clock but Lalita had to go to school at 9:30am, so she went to school without eating anything," said Pradeep Dongol, a child right officer at CWISH. He said that teachers of her school used to pay for her meal. She was rescued from the house after the teachers filed a complaint with the police. Tiwari was forced to massage feet of her master´s wife and do all households´ chores, including washing and cleaning.

Few months ago, Sushila Sardar, 10, of Sunsari had been rescued from a renowned lawyer´s home following complaints of torture and exploitation. She said that she had to clean the rooms, cook food, take care of the children, wash clothes and clean utensils but even after toiling so hard she would be abused and tortured by her masters.

Similarly Januka Baral, 11, of Katari, Udayapur, who was serving as a domestic help at the house of Deependra Mahatto, an orthopedic, fled thrice to a police station pleading to be rescued. She complained excessive torture from Mahatto´s wife.

Kumal, Kamat, Sardar and Baral represent thousands of children who endure exploitation, torture and abuses on a daily basis. Organizations, working against such form of labor and practices claim that over 98 percent children serving well off families in capital suffer tortures. They claim that situation of most domestic help is pathetic and they are subject to different kinds of abuses, including sexual abuse.

Even after 20 years of the government ratifying the International Labor Organization (ILO) convention to end child labor, exploitation, torture and grim treatment of under-age domestic help continues. The Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2000, prohibits government officials from keeping domestic help but these rules have been violated by the people responsible for law enforcement. The government officials, officials of police and army, doctors, lawyers, and officials working at United Nation agencies have been keeping underage children as domestic help and abusing their rights.

"Parents of such children send their wards to the capital hoping they would get better education but they do not check whether the children have been getting better education or not, " said Dongol. He said that children working as domestic helps are not allowed to go to school regularly. Several children have been forced to quit studies if they start spending more time on their books.

Sumnima Tuladhar, executive director of Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), said that most domestic helps do not get wages and have been denied even their basic rights. CWIN is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working as an advocate for children´s rights, and supporting child laborers, street children, children being exploited sexually and child victims.

Due to abject poverty of their family, hundreds of children from the districts adjoining to the capital have been toiling domestic help in the Valley. It is estimated that over 21,000 underage children work as domestic helps in capital.

Published on: 17 June 2013 | Republica