Employers held for mistreating child maid

Passer-by contacts helpline after hearing screams of girl

CHAK JHUMRA:

A housemaid was tortured and her hair cut to punish her by her employers allegedly because she had asked for food.

Police arrested the employer and her father after registering a case.

According to the police, Child Protection Bureau officer Samina Nadir filed a complaint that a trader, Sheikh Abdul Razzaq, a resident of the 40 Kothiyan area, had employed 14-year-old Nasreen Bibi, daughter of Saleem, a resident of Khanda Mor in Nankana district, at his home for the past four years.

The complainant stated that Abdul Razzaq's daughter Sonia had tortured the minor housemaid, when she asked for bread, and cut her hair to humiliate her.

A passer-by, Obaidullah, reported to the rescue helpline after hearing screams of the girl.

The SHO of Saddar area arrived at the spot with a contingent, took the girl into custody, arrested the employers and informed the child protection bureau.

The team submitted a report in the police station after medical examination of the girl and informed the family.

The girl told officials that the employer's daughter often thrashed her and had not allowed her to meet her family for the past five months.

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According to SHO Ayub Sahi, the suspect Sonia has two children who live in the nearby Gulzar Colony. He said the woman used to visit her parents' home daily and she and her father abused her over trivial matters.

The official said that the suspects tortured the housemaid on Wednesday afternoon because she had asked for bread. The woman also pulled and cut her hair and burned her with tongs.

The victim had scratches on her face and neck.

According to Child Protection Officer Samina Nadir, Sonia and her father had kept the maid in their house and tortured her physically and mentally.

Police registered under sections 328A, 337V and 337L2 of PPC and the PDNC Act 2004 against the woman and her father.

According to official record, the number of incidents of violence against domestic workers reported during the ongoing year is six in Madina Town, three in Peoples Colony, two in Jhang Bazaar, one in Sargodha Road and two in Saddar police station of Faisalabad.

In many posh areas of Faisalabad, young boys and girls serve as domestic workers whose parents have their advance salary from the employers.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2021.