Four accused granted bail in maid death case

Mother of the deceased says her daughter was paralysed due to alleged torture

LAHORE: All the four accused who allegedly tortured and threw a minor girl from the rooftop of their house have secured pre-arrest bail granted by a district and sessions court on Saturday.

Sawaira, a minor girl who worked as a domestic helper, was paralysed due to alleged torture by her employer in October 2016. She died on July 10. Just a few days ago, a teenage boy died due to the alleged torture by an MPA’s daughter.

In Sawaira’s case, her employers had been denying the allegations, claiming the girl had slipped down stairs while the family of the deceased claimed their daughter was tortured by her employer.

A few days ago, the accused Fauzia, who is the daughter of MPA Shah Jahan of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), obtained bail in a case in which she allegedly tortured a 16-year-old old boy Akhtar and his sister. Later, the boy died.

In the recent past, several incidents of torture over domestic helpers have been reported. Tayaba, a minor girl, was tortured in Islamabad by the family of a judge while Abida, another minor, was tortured by a family in Defence for breaking windowpane.

In Sawaira’s case, her employers had been denying the allegations, claiming the girl slipped down stairs. While the family of the deceased claimed their daughter was tortured by her employer.

The deceased’s family alleged that their daughter had been working as a domestic helper at Khuram and Hina’s house. They had stopped her salary. The accused, along with Muhammad Mujahid and Farooq, beat the girl with clubs when she demanded her salary and threw her from the rooftop of their house.

The accused informed Sawaira’s parents when her health deteriorated. She was admitted to the Mayo Hospital, where she told her parents about the torture she suffered at the hands of her employers.

Sawaira was allegedly beaten up on October 4, 2016 by Khurram, Hina, Mujahid and Farooq.

The mother of the deceased, Rani Bibi, got an FIR registered against them on July 9, 2017. Sawaira died on July 10 and Section 302 was added to the FIR.

However, the four accused filed their pre-arrest bails, which was granted by an additional district and sessions judge till July 22. The accused have denied torturing the minor girl.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Rani said her daughter was killed by the accused who tortured her and the minor girl was paralysed due to torture. The accused, Khurram, said the allegations were false which merely had been levelled to humiliate and blackmail them.

Sub-Inspector Rana Bashir, who had conducted the inquiry of the case, told The Express Tribune that the allegations levelled against the accused were false. He claimed that he had heard both the parties and while probing the matter found out that the accused were not involved in any sort of torture.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2017.