Maria Conchita claimed that she was kept in illegal confinement for the last four months.
A Filipina maid, who was found in illegal confinement after four months, will be heading back to her country soon.
On Wednesday, a district and sessions court in Sukkur ordered the police to hand over the maid to the Philippines consulate in Karachi so she can go back to her country.
On August 27, second civil judge, Sukkur, along with the police had raided a house in SITE area and had recovered a woman, who belonged to the Philippines. The recovered woman, Maria Conchita, claimed that she was kept in illegal confinement for the last four months. The owner of the house where she was found insisted, however, that he had hired her on a two-year contract as a housemaid only two months ago.
The next day, Conchita was produced in a civil court in Sukkur, where she said she was employed at Ali Akbar Rizvi’s house for the last four months with the salary package of US$400 through a recruiting agency in Lahore, according to her lawyer Rahib Ali Malano.
Her employer had not paid her for the past two months and, when she demanded her pay, his family members beat her up, said Malano. She further accused her employer of snatching her mobile phone, due to which she was unable to contact her family. On the other hand, Rizvi denied these charges.
When she was produced before the district and sessions judge, Saleem Jan Khan, on Wednesday, she maintained her earlier stance that she was being kept in illegal confinement and that her employer failed to pay her salary. Meanwhile, Rizvi’s lawyer David Lawrence produced all the relevant documents in court, which included her passport, the copy of the contract, a certificate from the Philippines embassy, a receipt of payment of salary and her mobile phone bills from that period.
Lawrence told The Express Tribune that Conchita’s phone records revealed that she used to call her family in the Philippines frequently. He added that she had already been paid $400 and was given the next month’s salary as well. Rizvi handed over her passport and other documents.
After hearing both the parties at length, the judge ordered the police to escort Conchita to the Philippines consulate in Karachi so she can go back to her country.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.
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