Businessman allegedly raped child maid

Family of victim says will move court once medico-legal report is completed.

LAHORE:

A local businessman accused his child maid and her family of theft in an apparent attempt to escape the charge of raping the girl.

Ayesha*, 15, fled her employer’s house on Model Town Link Road on the night of August 8 while he and his family were away, her father Salman Masih* said. The next day, which was Eidul Fitr, Rao Anwar* came to their house in Nishtar Colony and demanded that the girl return to work.

Masih said that Ayesha had told her older sister that Anwar had repeatedly raped her, and beaten her when she had resisted, but he had not been aware of this when Anwar visited the house. He said that his wife, his older daughter and his son-in-law had refused to send Ayesha back and engaged in a heated discussion with them.

Two days later, on Sunday, Anwar filed an application with Liaqatabad police seeking a case against Ayesha, her sister and her brother-in-law, accusing them of stealing two tolas of gold jewellery and Rs22,000 in cash.

Masih said that the family began receiving phone calls from police officials, instructing them to contact Anwar and sort out the matter, or else an FIR would be registered. On Tuesday, as family members were on their way to the police station, Anwar intercepted them and again tried to convince them to send Ayesha back to work. When they refused, he demanded they repay him Rs60,000 that he claimed to have given Ayesha as advance salary. Masih said that this was not true and he had reiterated that Ayesha would not return to his house.

Masih said that it was then that he found out from his older daughter about Ayesha’s ordeal during her time at work. He then contacted the Human Liberation Commission Pakistan, a human rights NGO, and got an order from a court for his daughter to be examined medically for evidence of sexual assault.

Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra, the chairman of the Human Liberation Commission of Pakistan, told The Express Tribune that the medico-legal report was expected from the hospital in a day or two, after which they would move a court for a rape case against Anwar.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Anwar denied the rape allegation. He said that he had been very concerned when he returned home on August 8 and the girl was not there. He said that he was a heart patient and part of his motivation for seeking a theft case was the stress that the family had put him under.

Anwar said that he had now withdrawn his application and did not want a dispute with the family. He said that the jewellery that he had thought had gone missing from his house had been found later. Even if some of it was still missing, he said, he did not want to pursue criminal proceedings. He said he had a cable business in Gujjar Khan and the “minor loss” did not bother him.

Asked whether he had lodged the theft case to use as leverage in anticipation of facing a rape case, he said that Ayesha’s mother was like his sister and he would never hurt his sister’s daughters. He asked this correspondent to convince Ayesha and her family not to seek legal action against him.

Sub Inspector Khursheed, an investigation officer with Liaqatabad police, told The Express Tribune that he had summoned both parties with respect to the theft case on Wednesday, but before the meeting, Anwar had called him and told him that the matter had been resolved. He said that he was yet to receive an affidavit for the withdrawal of the complaint. He denied taking a bribe from Anwar to put pressure on the Masih family.

*Names changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2013.