“Main padhna chahti hoon (I would like to study),” said the 13-year-old from Darjeeling, West Bengal who was allegedly abused by a couple who had employed her as a domestic help. On Wednesday, she narrated her traumatic experience to The Hindu, sitting on a bed in Vani Vilas Hospital.

Recovering from the wounds inflicted by the ropes that had cut into her skin around her tiny wrists and ankles, the girl said, “I wish to return home with my grandmother and study. I had studied till the fifth standard in my hometown before I was sent here with my employer.”

The girl, an orphan, had been working for Nikunj Todi and Nafisa Todi since June and was allegedly abused repeatedly by the couple. It was only when she fell unconscious and experienced seizures last week did her ordeal come to light. Mr. Todi took her to two hospitals before she was admitted to Vani Vilas Hospital. Doctors said she was put on ventilator, as she was gasping for breath and was malnourished when she arrived.

While she is recovering from the physical injuries, she turned silent and wistful the moment she was asked about the ordeal allegedly inflicted by her employers. Taking a few seconds to respond, she said, “It was the aunty who used to tie my hands and legs with the ropes.”

Too young to even understand why she was ill-treated, she assumed that it was punishment for not doing her work properly. When she left Darjeeling, she said she was not even aware that she would be the couple’s domestic help. “Tujhko khana khilayenge (they will give you food) is what my grandmother told me when I left,” she recollected with moist eyes.

Recalling that even on her birthday, July 16, she was asked to carry out daily chores and her usual routine, which involved sweeping, washing clothes and vessels, and taking care of her employers’ baby girl.

Since she started working in the house, the girl said she was often given food only in the evenings. “I ate bread most of the time and sometimes they gave me roti. I would sleep on the ground with a blanket spread on the floor,” she said, as she relished an apple in her hospital bed.

The city police, who arrested the girl’s employers, have traced the girl’s grandmother in a village on the India-Bhutan border and are bringing her to Bangalore.