A seven-year-old girl is undergoing treatment at a Netrakona hospital with serious injuries inflicted by her employer in Dhaka.

The ill-fated girl, Smriti Akter, is daughter of day labourer Sultan Mia of Ulukanda village in Kalmakanda upazila of Netrakona.

Her poor parents sent her to Dhaka to work as a domestic help some three months ago after Hazera Khatun of the village persuaded them, saying that her only work would be to play with the children of the housemaster, AKM Mizanur Rahman, OC of Kalmakanda Police Station, quoted the victim's family members as saying.

“Afterwards, Hazera told Smriti's parents that she was very well. Smriti's parents never visited her in Dhaka, they did not even know the location of the employer's  house.

“Hazera took back the girl and handed her over to her parents on May 18. Seeing her appalling condition, her parents asked Hazera about the matter but the latter left the scene, without giving any satisfactory answer.

“The girl told her parents that the employer beat her with sticks and burnt different parts of her body with hot iron rod,” the OC added.

In exchange for money, Hazera often collected girls from the area to engage them for work as housemaids in Dhaka, locals said.

The girl was taken to Kalmakanda Upazila Health Complex in Netrakona on Wednesday. 

“There are factures in her hands and fingers due to severe torture. There are also signs of burn on her body and joints of her hands displaced. She needs shifting to Mymensingh or Dhaka for treatment,” said Dr Sheikh Talat Mahmud, resident medical officer at the health complex.

The girl is traumatised and so, she will need psychological treatment too, he said.

The victim's father lodged a complaint with Kalmakanda Police Station on Tuesday.

The OC said they are trying to trace the girl's employer in Dhaka with the help of Hazera.