thief ?

Yesterday evening, I met a thief. And found her to be a thirteen year old child of migrant workers from Bengal.The mother, a domestic help has been in Bangalore for the last three years. The father, a construction worker, and three daughters have come here just a few weeks ago.This child, the youngest, had been put to work, just after that. On the third day, she picked up a mobile phone belonging to her employers, used whatever money she had for a sim card. Much commotion was made. The phone was returned and she has been branded a thief. The parents are traumatised. She is being thoroughly castigated. On meeting her, I found, that when she was three years old, she had been sent to live with her maternal grandparent's family. They had sent her back just a few months ago. It was them she had called, using the mobile phone.When I met her, she wept. I asked her where does it hurt and she showed her chest. She is afraid to go to school as she knows no language other than Bengali. And employment opportunities are dim as she is now a 'thief'