The Hindu : New Delhi News : Law & Order: Servant verification issue comes to the fore again

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Saturday, Mar 10, 2007
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New Delhi

Law & Order: Servant verification issue comes to the fore again

Devesh K. Pandey

Double-murder in Vasant Kunj is a grim reminder, says Devesh K. Pandey

A great deal of effort has gone into making the public realise that for their own good they should verify the antecedents of domestic help before hiring anyone. But incidents like the one in which a 12-year-old son of a retired Army officer and his grand aunt were brutally murdered in Delhi allegedly by their domestic help last week are stoic reminders that a foolproof solution to this grave problem is still a long way off.

Going by the police investigation, the domestic help who by all indicators ruthlessly killed the boy and his grand aunt had all the characteristics of a well-organised offender. After allegedly committing the murders, he stuffed the body of the woman in a large wooden box and sprinkled salt over it to prevent its decomposition. He also meticulously removed the bloodstains from the floor to destroy the evidence, kept the valuables in a leather bag and hid them in the garage. It showed that well before he struck, the servant had planned the entire crime keeping in mind minute details.

The incident also revealed that it is very difficult for employers to detect if their servants have any violent tendencies. Experts believe that proper screening of domestic aides is possible but it must be done before they are hired. Once they have entered the house, it becomes almost impossible for employers to identify those with criminal bent of mind as they behave as normally as they can to gain the trust of the employers.

However, if employers remain a little watchful about the activities of their servants there are chances that they can succeed in averting any untoward incident.

"Domestic help with criminal tendencies would try to win the trust of the employer in a very short span of time. If a newly recruited domestic help easily fits into the home and takes over household functions in a short period of time, it is a sign of danger. If the domestic help is found `excellent' with the children, that again is ominous," says Rajat Mitra of Swanchetan Society for Mental Health.

Citing a case in which a 19-year-old domestic help murdered the five-year-old son of a businessman and injured two of his daughters at Roop Nagar in North Delhi last year, Dr. Mitra says the police initially doubted that a lean and thin young man could commit such a heinous crime. "But then it came to light that he had earlier worked as a labourer. Although he appeared to be thin and weak, he was physically very strong. To hide his physique, he always wore loose clothes," said Dr. Mitra.

For those with a criminal bent of mind, working as domestic help is a modus operandi to find a safe place and lie low till they get an opportunity to strike. While interviewing several domestic helps arrested on various charges, Dr. Mitra found that most of the offenders were young and they hailed from small towns.

To prevent incidents of crime by domestic help, it is advisable that antecedents of servants are cross-checked properly before they were entrusted with any home, and most importantly, children. Equally important is the need to develop an institutionalised methodology for screening of domestic help through psychological profiling.

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