Alok Singh
The Supreme Court, on 29 January 2025, called upon the Central Government to establish a comprehensive legal framework to safeguard the rights of domestic workers in India.
A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh directed the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, along with other relevant ministries, to set up a committee to assess the viability of such legislation. This directive was issued while overturning a criminal case against a man accused of preventing his domestic worker from leaving his residence.
The man had been charged under Sections 370 (human trafficking), 343 (wrongful confinement), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He contended that he was unjustly implicated due to a dispute between the housemaid and the agency through which she had been hired. The housemaid had also levelled allegations of rape against individuals associated with the agency.
In 2018, the accused approached the Uttarakhand High Court, seeking to have the case dismissed and requesting a settlement. The complainant’s housemaid also supported this plea. However, the High Court, after reviewing her initial statement to the police, noted that the accused had allegedly restricted her from leaving his residence since 2016, pending the availability of a replacement.
Determining that these actions constituted an offence under Section 370 of the IPC, which is not legally compoundable, the High Court rejected the plea to quash the case. This decision led the accused to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court.
Case Name: Ajay Malik v. State of Uttarakhand and Anr.
Case Number: SLP(Crl) No. 8777/2022
Bench: Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh