‘He must be arrested,’ says Odisha migrant worker raped by 75-year-old employer in Kochi

Trigger warning: mention of sexual abuse

Rani* was just twelve when she started working as a domestic helper in Goa, caring for children. Since then, she has traveled back and forth several times from various Indian states to her native village in Odisha’s Gajapati district, doing household chores and living the displaced life of a migrant worker in search of livelihood.

But on October 15, two weeks after the 23-year-old woman from the Kandha tribe arrived in Kochi, Kerala, to work as a domestic help, she was raped by her employer. The perpetrator, K Sivaprasad, a retired government official who worked in senior leadership positions in state PSUs and scientific research organizations, has been on the run since then.

“He should be arrested at the earliest – no one else should have to go through what I am going through now,” said Rani, when TNM met her at the office of her lawyer Sandhya Raju, head of the Center for Constitutional Rights Research and Advocacy. Sivaprasad, a 75-year-old man, offered her a glass of juice with alcohol added and assaulted her as she lay unconscious in her room.

Sivaprasad’s LinkedIn profile shows him as a consultant for DLF Home Developers and a professional who has worked as Managing Director of nine public sector undertakings of the Government of Kerala for 23 years.

“I can’t express how grateful I am,” said Rani, who started a new job that day. She was happy that there were people around who tried to help, but she has decided not to do any more housework.

“Over the past eleven years I have been treated well and have not had a bad experience with anyone. But now I can’t do it anymore, she said. In Goa, at the age of twelve, she was tasked with caring for two toddlers.

“The children were only a year old when I arrived. The couple treated me like another daughter. I stayed there for four years. When they planned to migrate and the children went to school, I had to leave. Both the family and I were equally sad to part,” she said with a smile.

She was 16 when she returned to her village in Odisha’s Gajapati district, where she took up various jobs locally. “I stayed in the village for a year, but I didn’t earn much. There wasn’t enough food. So I went to Tamil Nadu and worked there for a few years,” she said. Rani returned to Odisha and faced a tough time when her distant relative, Amit, spoke to her about a job in Kochi.

“They offered Rs 15,000 per month along with free food and shelter. I was very happy: it was a huge amount for me. I could even send some money home,” she said.

She arrived at the house the first week of October, although she could not remember the exact date. ‘An older couple lived there. They have two daughters – one in Bengaluru and the other in Thiruvananthapuram. I told them that I didn’t know how to cook Kerala food, so they said all I had to do was cleaning and other household chores. Things went well for a week; they were nice to me,” she recalled.

A few days after the first week, the woman went shopping, leaving her alone with the man in the house. “He asked me to clean a room that was already tidy and then said he would help me by putting his hands on my shoulders while I worked. I felt uncomfortable and told him he could go rest, I would do it myself But he kept pushing, twice. Then he assured me he was just helping so I wouldn’t slip, and told me not to tell his wife,” she said.

The next day his wife went out again, leaving her alone with him. “That morning he left for a while and came back around 9am, after which his wife left without saying where. Later he called me into a room to clean. While I was at work he asked if I wanted juice, I agreed. Then he asked if I wanted alcohol, which I refused. I felt uncomfortable and didn’t even want the juice anymore, but he kept pushing and pressured me to drink it. I finally had the mango juice tasted strangely bitter.”

Her voice trembled as she remembered what happened next. “I felt dizzy. He immediately held me, hugged me and kissed me. I tried to resist, but I was only partially conscious. Somehow I managed to leave the room and tried to get some water drink in the kitchen, but the filter was empty, so I went to my room and lay down,” she said.

She woke up around 12:30 am and felt pain and discomfort in her body. She felt something had happened, but couldn’t remember exactly. After taking a bath, she stepped out of her room.

“When he saw me, he smiled and asked, ‘How was it?’ I asked him what he meant, and he said ‘the juice.’ He said he mixed ‘wine’ in it. When I asked him why, he just smiled. I felt dehydrated, hungry and thirsty “He even offered me more money to keep quiet and not tell his wife ” she added.

After a long silence she said, “Didi, do I need to explain why I felt something happening when I woke up?” I told her no.

She informed her relative Amit, who worked at a restaurant in Kakkanad, about the incident. He advised her to leave immediately. “I told the couple that I had to visit a relative in Thrissur, but they refused to let me go. The next morning I contacted my cousin, who works in Perumbavoor. The same day, the couple left with their daughter and closed the house They tried to lock all the doors, but I convinced them to leave the back door open and said I needed it to get water.

That afternoon, her cousin alerted the Center for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), a Kochi-based nonprofit that supports migrant workers in India. The CMID has partnered with Gram Vikas, a non-profit organization based in Odisha, to help migrant workers.

When volunteers first spoke to her, Rani did not know where she was. A photo she took through a window helped them identify the place. It was Silver Sand Island in Vyttila with several high-rise buildings and villas.

“I saw some people, including police officers, outside the house. I was so scared. Later, a female police officer came and we went to the police station,” she said. She spent more than a week in a shelter, where she eventually lost her phone.

She told TNM that she was ready to face the challenges but could not bear the pain of people in her village knowing about the incident. “My uncle’s son said that I had asked this about myself. He claimed that I was happy here, that I came to Kerala by choice, and now I have to face the consequences. I can’t go back and I feel like I’ve lost.” my family. That’s the most painful part for me,” she said.

*Name changed to protect identity

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