Nagaland woman accuses her employer of sexual assault

A 26-year-old woman from Northeast India has accused a businessman of sexually assaulting her for one-and-a-half years after hiring her as a domestic help.

The woman, from Nagaland, came to Bengaluru in 2015 and landed a job at a beauty parlour in Viveknagar. The parlour is run by Rongsenkala, the wife of the suspect, Wahengbam Lalit Singh.

Singh forced her to quit the job and hired her as a domestic help. Meantime, he started misbehaving with her and sexually assaulted her several times over the past one-and-a-half years, a senior police officer said quoting the complaint. She complained to Rongsenkala but the latter remained indifferent.

The victim somehow contacted a relative who managed to get her out of Singh's house. She later reached her hometown and lodged a complaint with the women's commission there. The commission referred the matter to the Bengaluru police commissioner's office. The case was subsequently referred to the jurisdictional Viveknagar police, the officer said.

Police are yet to arrest Singh and his wife as they were not found in the house where they were living. Police have questioned the victim's friend who facilitated her rescue. Last week, they called the victim to the city for recording her statement. She stated in her complaint that she had not been paid for six months.