NOIDA: Noida police arrested a woman from a posh society on charges of assaulting and holding her domestic help hostage for nearly two months, officials said on Thursday. “Shefali Koul, who resides in Sector 121’s Cleo County society, was held on Wednesday evening from her residence,” said a police spokesperson.Noida high-rise resident drags house help out of elevator, beats her upThe 40-year-old Koul is allegedly shown in a video dragging her 20-year-old domestic helper out of an elevator two days ago. Koul was initially booked under Indian Penal Code sections 344 (illegal confinement beyond 10 days), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (insult), the police said.CCTV footage: Woman drags domestic help from lift in Cleo County society “Now charges under IPC 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have also been added in the case,” an official of the local Phase 3 police station told PTI. Koul, a lawyer by profession, was on Thursday afternoon taken to a local court, the official added. Prior to her arrest, Koul had claimed that she did not mistreat her help nor did she keep her at home against her will. According to the help’s father, who lodged a complaint with the police, his daughter had a six-month work contract with Koul which ended on October 31. “After the contract ended, my daughter wanted to leave her place but she did not allow her. She kept my daughter hostage at her home where she assaulted her and hurled abuses at her,” the domestic help’s father alleged. On Monday, the help even tried to escape from Koul’s fourth-floor apartment by using a ‘dupatta’ as a rope but someone informed the police, prompting a team of emergency 112 service to reach the society, he said. “My daughter was then brought to the local police station,” the father said, urging the police to lodge an FIR and take legal action in the case.(With inputs from PTI)
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/posh-noida-society-resident-arrested-for-assaulting-domestic-help-keeping-her-hostage/articleshow/96594896.cms