The NHRC has issued a notice to the Gurgaon police commissioner (Representational)

The NHRC on Thursday sent a notice to the Gurgaon police commissioner over reports that a domestic help was allegedly detained for several hours, stripped and thrashed by police personnel after her employers accused her of theft.

The Gurgaon police chief has reportedly initiated a departmental enquiry into the incident and sent four policemen, including the SHO, to the police lines, the National Human Rights Commission said.

"The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that a 30-year-old maid was detained for several hours, stripped and thrashed badly on allegations of theft by the police personnel of DLF-I Police Station, Gurugram, Haryana on Tuesday," the rights panel said in a statement.

The NHRC has issued a notice to the Gurgaon police commissioner, seeking a detailed report, along with action taken against the guilty police personnel, in four weeks.

The Commission in its notice observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, are a matter of concern as the "inhuman, barbaric and atrocious act", allegedly perpetrated by police personnel inside the police station raises serious issue of violation of human dignity, liberty, life and safety of the victim.

It further observed that the media reports also seem to suggest "gross violation of duty by the public servants, destroying the fundamental edifice of the rule of law, which clearly ensures that no one shall be deprived of the safety of life and limb, much less, an outrageous act of dehumanising a helpless woman, whose modesty appears to have been trampled down by the police personnel".

The woman, who is from Assam, was working as a domestic help in a house located in DLF Phase-I, Gurgaon.

On July 31, a theft occurred in the house. The owner of the house suspected two women, including the domestic help in connection with the incident. DLF Phase-I police registered a case against the woman and called the suspect to the police station for questioning at 9 am on Tuesday, the NHRC said, quoting the reports.

"Allegedly, the police officials took her to a room in the police station and removed her clothes and severely assaulted her fragile limbs. It has also been reported that her lower back was hit so badly that the skin had peeled off as a result she was not able to walk," it said.

It is further reported that around 9 pm, the same day, the woman called her husband to the police station. The police personnel asked him to take her home and bring her back the next day, the statement said.

The incident came to light when North-East organisations came to know of her ordeal and protested in front of the police station demanding action against the erring police personnel, it said.