A lady doctor, arrested along with her husband for allegedly leaving their 13-year-old maid locked-up and starving in their flat here while vacationing in Bangkok, was on Wednesday granted bail by a Delhi court.
Additional Sessions Judge I S Mehta granted bail to Dr Sanjay Verma's medico wife Sumita Verma on grounds of being a woman and not being required for further investigation.
The doctor is still lodged in Tihar Jail along with a middleman Mahadev, who was arrested for allegedly bringing the girl to New Delhi from her village in Jharkhand.
The court gave bail to Sumita on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety of same amount.
"The petitioner (Sumita Verma) is a lady and is not required for further investigation in the present case and the victim has already been kept in children home for girls at Nirmal Chhaya," said the court, granting bail to Dr Sumita and asked her not to leave India without its permission.
The court also cautioned her against trying to influence prosecution witnesses.
The couple had allegedly locked up the girl in their flat at Dwarka in South West Delhi on March 25 before leaving the country for Bangkok.
The girl, hailing from Jharkhand, was rescued four days later on March 29 after neighbours saw her crying in the flat's balcony.
Sumita had moved the court for bail after she along with her husband and an alleged middleman were sent to 14 days of judicial custody, ending on April 22.
Sumita's counsel had sought bail for her arguing that she was no longer needed for probe.
"The couple has a ten-year-old daughter and as both the parents are in judicial custody, there is no one in their family to look after the minor child," the counsel had added.
NGO Shakti Vahini, which lodged the complaint with police after the minor girl was first spotted crying in the balcony of the flat at Dwarka in South West Delhi, vehemently opposed the bail plea.
The NGO's counsel Ravi Kant said the lady along with her husband used to torture her in their flat. He said if the lady is given bail she would influence witnesses.
The bail plea was also opposed by Chief Public Prosecutor Devender Kumar, who said the police is yet to arrest two more accomplices Narain Sahu and Mukesh, latter one a manager of Red Rose placement agency at Punjabi Bagh.
Kumar said the co-accused have already offered Rs 75,000 to the victim for settlement of the case, so there is every possibility that they will use the money power to win over the witnesses.
He further said that investigation regarding trafficking is still pending, so the woman should not be released on bail.
The case in the matter has been lodged under various sections of the Juvenile Justice Act, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act and the Indian penal Code.
