Child maid escapes ‘abusive’ employers

Police arrest husband, wife over eight-year-old’s torture

RAWALPINDI:

In yet another case of violence against a helpless child, the Rawat police on Wednesday arrested a husband and wife in the case of the torture of an eight-year-old domestic worker.

The first information report (FIR) was lodged on the complaint of the victim’s father Fazeel Ahmed from Rahim Yar Khan. According to him, he had sent the girl to work at the residence of his neighbour Dr Kausar’s daughter who lives in a private housing society in Rawalpindi.

The girl had worked there for six months for which the family was paid Rs6,000 monthly.

Sometime between August 25-26, the girl was brutally tortured by her empoyer Bakhtawar and her husband Ali Sher, the FIR stated.

Upon this, it continued, the girl fled from the house and somehow made her way to Khanpur Dam instead of Khanpur Katora, where the family is currently located. A local who found her contacted the family, it said.

The complaint said that the girl told the father that she was beaten regularly. The girl also had fractures on the elbow, joints dislocated and hair chopped off, the FIR stated. Her head was also bruised.

Last time, she was beaten because the family had run out of powdered milk for the children that the girl was supposed to look after. The FIR said that the girl was beaten with a ladle and spoon, while ‘Ali Sher also tried to kill her by placing a polythene bag on her head’.

When they contacted the employers, they told him that the girl had run away with a construction worker, which was a lie, the FIR quoted the complainant. It stated the medical had been completed and the doctor had identified at least six torture marks.

The police said that after the detailed medical report, if more serious injuries are reported, more provisions would be added to the FIR.

Currently, the FIR contains section 328A (cruelty to a child) and 337V (uprooting hair).

Ayesha Raza, who heads the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC), told The Express Tribune that several key sections were missing as was the case in the FIR of Rizwana, another child maid who was allegedly tortured while working at the residence of an Islamabad civil judge.

She pointed out that sections pertaining to attempt to murder and trafficking were added to the case after outcry on social and mainstream media. She said that the authorities needed to look into the case to ensure relevant sections were included.

She added that the commission was pursuing legislation that would make child domestic labour a non-bailable and non-compoundable offence to ‘stop those with influence from forcing an out-of-court settlement’ on the victims.

She acknowledged that child domestic labour remained an unregulated sector but they were seeking laws that would criminalise making a child work without the supervision of their parents.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2023.