Found this really disturbing video today. Incident happened in Pune, India.
“This techie couple hired a motherly governess for their 11-month-old child, as both worked night shifts. Little did they know that this mother of four and grandmother of two had anger management issues and violent tendencies.
The 11-month-old boy Hemishkumar alias Happy, is still in trauma after being allegedly physical beat repeatedly by his care-taker for last two days. The incident had came to light, after the parent reviewed the CCTV cameras instaled in in their house via their mobile phone.”
The incident itself is shocking. But if you read some of comments in the articles, I am surprised at people’s mentality who are taunting the mother for giving preference to her career over tending to the child’s needs. I mean child abuse can happen anywhere no matter how protective you are as parents. Homeschooling the child and never letting him/her interact with people isn’t the solution.
As for the maid, I really wonder what got into her. How can anyone be so abusive to an innocent baby?
this is why i’m against hiring nannies to take care of very young babies who can’t speak about any wrong-doings/mistreatment. all parents must have a complete police check before they hire anyone.
i wonder why the parents didn’t see the CCTV footage…did they not notice the physical abuse on the body a day before?
it’s sad and reprehensible. the woman must be punished to the fullest of law.
It appears she was not just a baby sitter. But also had to do housework.
Not defending the maid. But the system is screwed up. I wonder how many hours the maid worked. And how much she got paid. When you squeeze someone’s pay and extract max work out of them bad outcomes will result.
Of course I don’t know the pay and work hrs arrangements in this specific case. But it is par for the course for house help to be exploited. No union. Lots of supply.
Are you serious? Loads of people work extremely long hours for not-so-great pay and they do not become violent.
If the couple was expecting to much, she could have simply told them rather than abusing their child. As far as squeezing someone’s pay, if she felt they were not paying her enough, again, she could have said something and not taken it out on the child. It is not the system that is at fault for this woman’s actions. It is the woman herself who is at fault.
Yes I am serious. You probably didn’t read the part where I clearly stated I am not defending the maid. I offered some plausible mitigating factors.
If only it were so easy that pay and labor issues are resolved by saying something about it. Problem with society is we think linearly. Cause that is easy.
Without excusing her behavior one can also use this incident as a learning tool. But that is not as gratifying as heaping abuse on this person and pretending everything is AOK wrt maid’s rights in that region. Is all I am saying.
Did a google search on maid plus baby sitter salary
Rs 4000/month was for 10h shift all days in a week. Works out to Rs 12.85 per hour.
Saw 6000 to 8000 for full time. What the heck does that mean? Granted they get a place to stay. full time? No official time off? Can be expected to he on duty any time of the day. Guest comes at od hour. You have to serve.
This is the reality. That anyone with access to the Internet can verify.
Recently I came across a GSer who had expectations of perfectly clean home from the maid. We see nothing wrong with that attitude.
Some of the comments are ridiculous.. What about when the kids go to school or to friends’ houses or even when they’re around older family members? Is it not possible they could be harmed in any of those situations as well?
I read somewhere that most abuse in our culture comes from inside the family anyway.. It’s just easy to pick on the mum in this case.. I feel so bad for them and the poor baby..
No matter in what circumstances the maid was working, nothing justifies or can be used as a cause as to why she did what she did. She could have dealt with her frustrations in so many other ways, but she used to beat an innocent baby.
A synonym for mitigate is “to lessen,” so although not justifying this woman’s actions, to mitigate her actions is to lessen the severity of her crime.
I’m sorry but when it comes to child abuse, I don’t believe there are any “mitigating factors.” I quite understand the significance of mitigating factors when it comes to other crimes, but child abuse should never be "mitigated"and should be treated like the abhorrent crime that it is.
You are presenting mitigating factors in maid’s favour because her rights were violated and that is why she resorted to hitting the baby. So aren’t you basically giving reasons that possibly drove her to doing it?
Lol Its funny that you say you wont defend the maid, but do nothing else.
Your points are completely irrelevant. Frustration from the scope of work CAN NOT be a justifiable factor. Thats just insanity.
Consider a flight attendant who is very uneasy with air travel. If she should assault a passenger because of frustration stemming from being in a plane, can her frustration be a defensive argument? Absolutely not. Job description says you will be flying. Same goes here, maid knew what her job entailed. She shouldve resigned before hitting a child.
Also, can you please put into perspective that she struck the baby? You worry too much about the social injustice maids encounter but you forget she assaulted a defenseless infant whom she was being paid to look after.
I refer you back to our conversation earlier where first hand experience can shed more light on a situation. I feel if you were standing there witnessing the child be beaten, I am sure you wouldnt worry how mean the system is. And here is why I was sarcastic; first hand experience shouldnt be necessary for us to empathise with a victim.
And lets not forget she wasnt of noble blood that was cast into this employment and didnt know the system. No. She was a product of the system and understood her responsibilities.
Seriously though, I am simply saying that we should take this opportunity to learn from this. I am not defending the maid. What happened to the child was terrible.
However, such incidents provide an opportunity to look at POTENTIAL ROOT CAUSES and come up with solutions that MAY reduce the chances of such incidents happening.
It is possible SOME such incidents are equivalent to PTSD. I am proposing we look at this POSSIBILITY.
Madz and Deeba, I havnt read the comments you guys mentioned , but I must add that a baby being given to the nanny v/s a child in school has a difference of situation. A baby is defenseless in any way or form. A child in school is at least able to speak to the parents.
Its not about the career, its not about the woman or the man’s needs , it really is all about the baby and their needs.
A few friends and I were talking the other day and we know of several cases within our social circles of how risky it is to leave little babies with nannies unless its a very strictly regulated nursery. anyways a child can never have a better minder then their own mother or father. Every thing else comes second.
We all agree the baby is defenseless and can’t speak for itself. At the same time we turn the other way when it comes to discussing what is fair compensation for such care. Whether a 2 in 1 mind plus babysitter arrangement is sustainable for the 2 in 1 provider - especially at the 1.2 salary received for 2 job. We look for bargains. Get a good deal. And get surprised. This is not matter of if. But when.such things will happen.
Question in general- what do you think of the numbers I provided re salary for such service? Should there be reform?
