Bollywood celebrities abusing their domestic helpers

[Gabbar Singh]

NEW DELHI: Tinsel town's ugly underbelly is showing. A Mumbai-based start-up called bookmybai.com, an online platform through which people can hire domestic staff, has learned this the hard way. Barely two years in the business, it has announced that it will stop providing domestic help to Bollywood celebrities after cases of physical and verbal abuse, withholding payments and bad behaviour started mounting up.

Founder Anupam Sinhal, who announced the ban through a blog post, alleged that he has over 25 cases where a Bollywood or TV personality has misbehaved with their maids.

Sample this: one celebrity refused to let her male helper attend the last rites of his dead mother till the agency gave her a replacement. Another gave her maid only tea and bread as food, forcing the agency to find as many as seven replacements in less than six months. Yet another beat up her maid almost daily.

Sinhal described his experience working with Bollywood celebrities, some of them national film awardees, as nothing less than "horrendous''.

"I felt that they are misusing their position to take advantage of people working for them who are helpless and poor. I wanted to bring out a true picture that these people who are role models for us, who we look up, to don't have basic ethics to treat human beings,'' he told TOI.

In one case, he wrote, physical abuse of the maid was almost a daily affair. "As soon as we got to know, we asked the maid to leave as soon as possible. When she came to our office, we could see marks of physical abuse on her body.''

However, the company that currently has 50,000 domestic workers on its rolls has been unable to pursue cases of abuse with the police as the maids do not want to file a FIR. "I am willing to file cases and take legal action but the maids feared harassment by the police,'' he said.

Sinhal claims he has also been threatened with bouncers, defamation on social media, police cases and legal notices forcing him to refund the deposit and close the case on some occasions to avoid trouble. "We have a very strict abuse clause in our contract and the employer is not given a replacement if there is any form of abuse. The celebrity called us and told us that she has 4 lakh followers on twitter and she would post bad tweets about the company if we don't give her a replacement,'' he recounted.

http://m.timesofindia.com/business/...s-to-bollywood-stars/articleshow/58247918.cms

 

[big_gamer007]

Absoultely pathetic, some of these so called celebrities are so full in their head they don't value another human being.. Wish the guy had name and shamed these animals..

 

[CricketCartoons]

Bollywood is actually worse than this. This is just the tip of the iceberg. But bollywood worshippers will continue to treat them as gods.

 

[hafeezrocks]

These are the icons for millions of Indians.

 

[Hornbill]

These are the icons for millions of Indians.

and Pakistanis, om puri the most revered actor on PP used to abuse his maids.

 

[Bewal Express]

and Pakistanis, om puri the most revered actor on PP used to abuse his maids.

So its all PK's fault!

 

[Hornbill]

So its all PK's fault!

No and it's not fault of indians who don't know anything about personal life of their icons.

 

[Hornbill]

most people like them for their on-screen performances and they don't care much about their personal life.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

and Pakistanis, om puri the most revered actor on PP used to abuse his maids.

Om Puri was a peadophile (and a wife beater) - according to his wife of 15+ years.

 

[cr7great]

ban this crap bollywood

 

[R0H1T]

Bollywood is actually worse than this. This is just the tip of the iceberg. But bollywood worshippers will continue to treat them as gods.

This isn't a bollywood only disease, it's a rich/powerful people disease. Just look at who's leading US of A & his favorite host Bill O'Reilly, just to name a few.

 

[shaz619]

This isn't a bollywood only disease, it's a rich/powerful people disease. Just look at who's leading US of A & his favorite host Bill O'Reilly, just to name a few.

Oh right, so that makes it perfectly acceptable for Indians to behave in the same manner

 

[R0H1T]

Oh right, so that makes it perfectly acceptable for Indians to behave in the same manner

What do you mean in the same manner, you're telling me something like that doesn't happen in Pakistan or China, or that we're trying to emulate the yanks here? For as long as history is/was documented, the rich have always abused their power, it isn't right but might is always right in this world.

 

[santos11]

Lol and these Bollywood Celebrities are on Television 24/7 sometimes featuring in Nation Building advertisements where they advice the citizens to follow particular guidelines.

Champions of Human Rights, Women Rights, Social Equality.

 

[shaz619]

What do you mean in the same manner, you're telling me something like that doesn't happen in Pakistan or China, or that we're trying to emulate the yanks here? For as long as history is/was documented, the rich have always abused their power, it isn't right but might is always right in this world.

My point is your immediate reaction is to point out oh well he or she does it to! that doesn't make you or other Indians look that great does it because it sounds like you're making excuses....what you should say is "This is an absolutely horrific act and I apologise on behalf of India, we do not condone such despicable behaviour" but I suppose you may feel differently

 

[R0H1T]

My point is your immediate reaction is to point out oh well he or she does it to! that doesn't make you or other Indians look that great does it because it sounds like you're making excuses....what you should say is "This is an absolutely horrific act and I apologise on behalf of India, we do not condone such despicable behaviour" but I suppose you may feel differently

No my point was, this isn't tied or related just to Bollywood. I can see the same in my city, even if the (people) aren't as filthy rich as these megastars, by contrast there are middle income people who are much better, even some filthy rich ones. But as a rule of thumb, the filthy rich are (almost) always arrogant, narcissistic & PoS as an excuse for a human being. Again that's what I have observed with a lot of rich/powerful people, I know quite a few personally, but there are exceptions, less now than in the past.

 

[R0H1T]

My point is your immediate reaction is to point out oh well he or she does it to! that doesn't make you or other Indians look that great does it because it sounds like you're making excuses....what you should say is "This is an absolutely horrific act and I apologise on behalf of India, we do not condone such despicable behaviour" but I suppose you may feel differently

I missed this absolute gem, so I should apologize because the (filthy) rich are PoS human beings? Should you apologize to the rotw for the deadly dastardly duo of the Sharif & Zardari family?

These guys should definitely apologize to the people who are hurt by their actions, the politicians of India should apologize to Indians for their corruption. I don't see how a common citizen apologizing to the rotw makes sense, did your sensibilities get hurt, are you coming face to face with the ugly reality of the modern world just now?

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

This is pretty common in India. They pay them 5-6k per month and think they have bought them. I have not heard about this book my bai website before so may be it was a publicity stunt just to gain attraction. I am saying this because he is not going to take their names. Win win situation for him.

 

[Poutine]

This isn't a bollywood only disease, it's a rich/powerful people disease. Just look at who's leading US of A & his favorite host Bill O'Reilly, just to name a few.

Agree, this is not just limited to one country or group. Some people tend go crazy when they have a bit of power and unfortunately those people exist everywhere.

 

[Specialisttailender]

When idiots are treated like gods they think themselves as kings and queens. Kings and Queens don't need labourers, they need slaves.

Sexual violations are notorious domestic workers. It is not uncommon to hear maids having affairs with their employers.

 

[PakLFC]

It really has nothing to do with Bollywood. Wealthy and ultra wealthy have always treated servants as their slaves. One just has to walk around Pakistan's elite communities to see that these poor servants are not even seen as being human. Thank Allah for the west where human rights are observed.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

As my fellow posters have said this isn't related to Bollywood,but mostly to some rich people across the globe who believe they are above all others.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

It really has nothing to do with Bollywood. Wealthy and ultra wealthy have always treated servants as their slaves. One just has to walk around Pakistan's elite communities to see that these poor servants are not even seen as being human. Thank Allah for the west where human rights are observed.

Agree with the rest of your comment but human rights aren't always observed in the West.

 

[PakLFC]

Agree with the rest of your comment but human rights aren't always observed in the West.

Of course not but it is the best the world has to offer at this time.