Sumita Oraon, 11, feeds the caged bird in a neighbour’s house in Howrah, the day after she was freed from the clutches of her callous employers. Picture by Amit Datta

5.30am: Serve tea to Manas and Lipika Chakraborty.

Till bedtime: Serve tea and then dinner to Manas and Lipika, give them a massage, and even suffer the occasional thrashing.

All in a day’s work for 11-year-old Sumita Oraon. And all for nothing.

The Chakrabortys had promised to pay the girl Rs 200 every month, for her dawn to midnight toils. “I have been trapped here since the Pujas and have never been paid a paisa,” said Sumita, sitting in Shibpur police station on Wednesday afternoon.

Late on Tuesday, she was rescued by some neighbours on Sarat Chatterjee Road in Howrah, who took her to the police station seeking action against the couple for torturing the minor.

“We have arrested the couple on the basis of Sumita’s statement,” said Samarendra Das, inspector-in-charge, Shibpur police station.

Manas Chakraborty, 37, works in a private company, while wife Lipika, 33, is a South-Eastern Railway employee.

The couple has been booked under sections 506, 342, 34 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code and will be produced before the chief judicial magistrate, Howrah, on Thursday.

The two have denied the charges. “We have always treated her well. The neighbours have levelled false allegations against us,” said Manas Chakraborty.

The police have learnt that Jamini Murmu, whom Sumita calls ‘Uncle’, brought her from Baul village in South Dinajpur district to the flat at 878/1 Sarat Chatterjee Road in Howrah. “But Murmu is not related to her. He is from the same village,” said a police officer, who recorded Sumita’s statement.

Initially hesitant, Sumita opened up after she was offered some food and water by the police.

“They used to switch off the mains before leaving home to ensure I did not watch television or switch on fans and lights. I used to sit at the window in the dark and wait for them to return home,” she said, choking on her tears.

Some neighbours, aware of Sumita’s plight, decided to act when they saw the girl sitting near the window, sweating profusely and crying throughout Tuesday.

“I have often seen her crying and once I asked her the reason. She told me her employers had beaten her up for eating something without their knowledge. I gave her some biscuits and tried to speak to the Chakrabortys, who brushed me aside,” said Anupam Ghosh, who lives in the same apartment block.

Ghosh, along with a few other neighbours, freed Sumita from the clutches of the couple on Tuesday night.

“They are inhuman… We should have intervened earlier,” said Mohua Chakraborty, a neighbour.