Why placement agent not a witness in the case: Court to cops

Delhi Police was today asked by a court here as to why the placement agent, held for providing a domestic help to a 50-year-old woman who allegedly assaulted and confined the maid at her house, was not made a prosecution witness in the case.
"Why did you (police) not make her (accused) a prosecution witness instead of arresting her? She would have been a very important prosecution witness in the case," Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha said while remanding Dorothy to judicial custody till October 7.
To this, police said that the arrested accused, Vandana Dhir, who is in judicial custody till October 15, had said she had asked the placement agent to replace the maid but it was Dorothy who insisted that there was no replacement for the domestic help.

During the hearing, police told court that Dorothy was arrested after they investigated the cash memo of the placement agency which had found the maid employment at Dhir's house.
It said that provisions of the Bonded Labour Act and Immoral Trafficking Act have been invoked against Dorothy besides the charge of illegal confinement under IPC.
Police said it was Dorothy who had brought the girl from Jharkhand to Delhi on the pretext of getting her employed here but no money was paid to the maid although she was promised Rs 4,000 per month.

It also said that a consolidated amount, to be paid to the maid for the work, was fixed between Dorothy and Dhir, but the victim was not told anything about it.

Dorothy, however, countered the claims of the police and said that the maid was beaten up by her parents and she was not given food at her home. She said that the girl was very disturbed and that is why she brought her to Delhi.
She also said that she had given two mobile phones and Rs 20,000 in cash to the parents of the victim. She added that the girl had told her she would take the money she had earned in Delhi from her when she went back to her village in Jharkhand.
The victim, a resident of Jharkhand, was rescued from Dhir's Vasant Kunj home where she had been working as a domestic help and was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital with severe injuries.