BENGALURU: On Tuesday, a house help roped in her husband and three others to rob her employer of over Rs 88 lakh after gagging the homemaker in Basaveshwaranagar, west Bengaluru. Referred by a person known to the employer, she had joined the job only two months ago and was provided accommodation in the outhouse.
Police found the house owner never verified the domestic help or her husband’s antecedents before employing them, notwithstanding appeals from the authorities to do so before hiring anyone.
According to official data, only 642 applications were made to police across the state during 2021, requesting to check the antecedents of domestic workers who were sought to be employed. May recorded the lowest number of such applications (4), when the state was under Covid-related lockdown. August saw the highest number of requests — 146. Of the 642 queries, police cleared 618 and dismissed 24 citing submission of improper documents or records.
Many don’t hire via agencies: ADGP
Police officers involved in addressing the applications say the figure is paltry as the number of domestic workers being recruited would be in thousands. Additional director general of police MA Saleem says the reason behind poor response to police verification towards house helps and servants is largely because people hire them on ‘known to the person I know’ basis.
“In cities, there are agencies and slowly people are utilising their services to hire house helps. But such a practice is unheard of in smaller towns, where domestic workers are hired from persons known to the employer,” he said.
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