Guwahati, March 14: Domestic workers, mostly from the Northeast, and members of various NGOs today staged a protest in front of the Gurgaon police commissioner's office, demanding a proper probe into the death of Kokrajhar girl Ranjita Brahma.

Eighteen-year-old Ranjita, who was working as a domestic help at the apartment of Rohit Mehta and his wife Sonal, died on Friday night after falling from the 11th-floor flat in Carlton Estate in DLF Phase 5.

Police claim she committed suicide but the victim's friends and family suspect she may have been murdered.

"Today's protest was held against the connivance of Gurgaon police with those responsible for Ranjita's death. Domestic workers from all communities staged a protest outside the police commissioner's office this afternoon," said Maya John, convener of the Centre for Struggling Women (CSW).

John demanded the immediate arrest of Ranjita's employers and called for the police to investigate the case as a murder. The police, however, have registered a case under Section 306 of IPC (abetment of suicide) at Sushant Lok police station and nobody has been arrested yet.

"Just before her death, she had contacted friends about being forcefully confined by her employer, and had said she desperately wanted to leave. Gurgaon police are wrongly projecting it as a suicide case to protect the wealthy employers," John said.

She said earlier, on Friday, Ranjita had called the friend who had found her the job and had, amid sobs, told her that she wanted to leave. Then she ended the call abruptly.

"Ranjita was illegally confined by the couple. She wanted to leave the job but her employers allegedly did not let her go even when two of her friends came to take her," she said.

"We have submitted a memorandum to the Gurgaon police commissioner. Its copies have been sent to the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, seeking justice for Ranjita," she said.

The CSW convener also warned of a big movement if Ranjita does not get speedy justice.

A similar protest was held at Sushant Lok police station on Sunday.

"The death of Ranjita brings out the coercive nature of the conditions under which domestic workers in general are made to work. In fact, the employers deny these workers even their basic rights," John said.

"Coercion and abusive treatment of these workers are routine. Even the police apathetically often refuse to register the complaints of the victims against oppression by their employers," she said.

Activists from the Gharelu Kamgar Union (GKU), North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) and the All Bodo Students' Union (Absu) also participated in the protest.

A delegation of workers today also met assistant commissioner of police Harinder Kumar, who is heading the special investigation team (SIT) constituted by Gurgaon police to investigate this case, and demanded the arrest of Ranjita's employers.