A week after she jumped from the balcony of an apartment in Kerala’s Kochi to allegedly escape from her employer, the 55-year-old domestic worker succumbed to her injuries on Sunday morning. The woman, who was a native of Tamil Nadu, had sustained grievous injuries when she jumped from the sixth floor of the apartment building at Link Horizon in Kochi’s Marine Drive.
On December 5, the woman was allegedly trying to escape from the apartment on the sixth floor by tying together two sarees and sliding down from the balcony. However, she slipped and fell, landing on the roof of the car porch in the apartment complex. She was seriously injured and was under treatment at a private hospital in the city. Though she was initially admitted to the Government General Hospital in Ernakulam, she was shifted to a private hospital.
The woman’s husband recently filed a police complaint, alleging that she was forcefully confined in the apartment. The police had registered a case based on the husband’s complaint.
Talking to TNM, Circle Inspector of Central Police station S Vijaysankar said that a case was already registered against apartment owner, advocate Imtiaz, under 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code. “More sections will be added after investigation,” said CI Vijaysankar.
According to reports, the woman had come back to the apartment a few days after visiting her native place. Following the incident, several reports said that the apartment owner was earlier booked in a similar case pertaining to harassment of domestic workers. A court order regarding anticipatory bail of the previous case revealed that Imtiaz had been accused of torturing a 14-year-old girl, the daughter of their domestic worker, in 2010. As per the court order, the girl was allegedly beaten and burn injuries were inflicted with a hot iron rod on her chest.