Family of 8-year-old domestic worker tortured to death in Rawalpindi seeks PM's intervention

Employers beat minor to death for releasing their parrots; family refuses blood money, demands justice

RAWALPINDI: The family of a minor domestic worker, who was beaten to death by her employers, has demanded that Prime Minister Imran Khan intervene.

The eight-year-old housemaid, Zahra, was violently beaten to death by her employers for accidentally setting their expensive parrots free.

In this regard, the family and friends of the victim staged a protest in her native Muzaffargarh village on Sunday.

Later in a video message, the victim’s father, Tahir Shah, said that he had forbidden his wife from sending Zahra to the city. He said that the authorities were being cruel with them, adding that they were very poor but did not want blood money (Di’yat).

“We demand justice instead,” Shah said, appealing to Prime Minister Imran and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed to take notice of the incident and order a transparent probe into the incident.

“I don’t know what they (employers) did to my daughter that she died,” Shah cried.

Meanwhile, a Rawalpindi police officer, part of the investigation team, told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that a probe is underway transparently. He added that police are likely to ask the court to extend the couple’s remand for another three days.

We are waiting for the forensic reports to be certain if the suspect raped the victim, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2020.