Child maid raped: 10-year-old locked up after being raped by employer

Umer and his father tied up Naseem so she couldn’t tell anyone about the incident.

RAHIM YAR KHAN/ KHANPUR:

A landlord’s son was accused of raping a 10-year-old housemaid on Monday.

According to police officials, the accused man’s father held the girl in his house in a locked room for three days to prevent her from approaching the police. Police officials said that former district council member Ghulam Mustafa and his son Muhammad Umer had illegally detained the girl and tortured her after Umer had raped her several days ago.

Saddar police registered a case, after the girl Naseem’s parents filed a complaint that they weren’t able to contact their daughter. “We haven’t seen her in four days and she returns home from work every night,” said Rukhsana Bibi, Naseem’s mother. According to police officials, Chak-90 resident landlord and former member district council Ghulam Mustafa had employed a ten-year-old girl to work in his house as a maid. “The girl cooked and cleaned during the day and returned every night. After the men didn’t let her leave for three days her parents knew something had happened,” said SHO Hashim Abbas. “We raided the house and found that the child was tied up to a charpoy in the blistering heat. She was bleeding and was nearly hysterical when we found her,” he said.

Naseem’s father Pir Abdullah said that his daughter had told the family she had been raped by Umer and that he and his father threatened to kill her if she told anyone. “They tied me up and told me that if anyone found out they would burn my house down and kill my entire family,” she told police.

Naseem told police that the incident occurred on Friday, while the rest of the family were away from home. She was dusting a room when Muhammad Umer, 25, entered the room, locked the door behind him and raped her. Naseem said that she fainted after he began beating her severely. “Umer ran away the same day but when Sahib came back and saw me on the floor they locked me up,” she said. Naseem told police that Umer later returned after his father assured him that he would not be caught by police.

“They washed her blood stained clothes and tied her up. My daughter has been tortured and wasn’t fed for two days,” said Abdullah. “We have taken her to a hospital and doctors have said that she was severely dehydrated. They also performed a medical test that confirms she was raped,” he said.

Saddar Police safely recovered the girl and have taken Ghulam Mustafa into custody. “Umer has escaped but we are searching for him,” Abbas said. Police officials have registered a case and begun formal proceedings against the landlord’s family. Naseem is reportedly in serious condition in the THQ hospital.



*All names have been changed to protect the identity of the victim

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2011.