Justice for Tayyaba

Pakistan is a classic example of a society that openly, knowingly, and willingly oppresses its members as a callous show of prowess due to having wealth or power. Some cases make it to light, and some are hushed using that same prowess and influence. In a change of routine, however, it is impressive to see the Supreme Court taking suo-motu notice of a case in which a child maid was physically abused at the hands of her employers over allegations of a missing broom. Unfortunate for their career prospects, one of the employers is an additional district and sessions judge, a role entrusted with upholding the integrity of our justice system. However, the focus is not who the employer was. The issue is a social reality wherein middle and upper middle class families have to consciously be reminded to treat their house help with respect and kindness, despite these being rights house staff already possesses according to axiomatic international human rights laws. The class system is still alive here; rather than viewing house staff as persons merely fulfilling employment roles, employers reduce them to their titles only, berating them and ignoring that they themselves were blessed with opportunities and scaffolds for success that their house help was not.



Going forward with investigation, all foul play must be considered, including the suspicious denying by the maid’s father, who dismissed the case as untrue and “forgave” the employer. The hallmark of a triumphant justice system is that it holds anyone and everyone accountable, regardless of his or her clout. The Supreme Court must be supported in taking any perpetrators to task upon thorough investigation as this is an opportunity for our classist society to learn that disrespect to a member from any socioeconomic class cannot be tolerated. Every member of society deserves the same basic respect, whether it is someone with an enormous wallet size or the man who picks trash to scrape together his only meal of the day.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2017.

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