14-year-old domestic worker rescued after being beaten, starved and chained

Employer claims she shackled him to prevent him from stealing.

KARACHI: In one of the most horrifying child labour cases to come forth this year, a 14-year-old beaten, shackled and bruised Zafar was rescued by the Darakhshan police from a flat in Bukhari Commercial area on Tuesday.

It brought to an end two years of suffering for the boy, whose employers — identified as Sobia and Mohammad Ali — had not even paid him the nominal monthly salary of Rs2,000 after the first five months.

According to the teenager, Sobia had chained him up and left on Friday. “I started screaming and the neighbours heard me and called the police for help,” he said.

“They knew where my family was but they wouldn’t let me see them,” Zafar told the police. “They kept me locked and used to needlessly beat me.” According to Supervising Police Officer Darakshan Zameer Abbasi, Sobia claims that Zafar used to regularly steal from her, the last incident being of two bangles about a week ago. When the police spoke to him, Zafar admitted to the theft but says that he returned the stolen jewellery.

For her part, Sobia says that as her husband was out of town and since she didn’t want Zafar to steal again, she temporarily chained him up. Zafar claims, however, that this is not the first time he has been chained and starved, said Abbasi, adding that he was kept in that state for nearly two days.

Case investigator SI Shafqat Mirza pointed out, however, that even if Zafar had stolen, as he never left the house, the belongings would have been inside anyway. He believes that Zafar stole out of frustration of not being able to meet his family. Mirza also said that during questioning it surfaced that the couple had forced Zafar to shoplift. The investigation continues.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Zafar’s mother Parveen sobbed over her son’s fate. “We sent him to work because we are very poor and after five months they [the employers] stopped paying him and told us not to come to the house to collect money or see him.”

Right before Ramazan, they had told the family that he had stolen a gold chain and if they wanted to take him away they needed to pay Rs100,000. “We cannot afford such a large amount so we had no choice but to temporarily leave him there,” she said.

Zafar is the third of seven children to parents Parveen and Mohammad Yaseen, residents of Jinnah Colony, Liaquat Square, Malir City. Now the family just wants to take him home and for him to be paid his salary dues of Rs8,000.

Sobia was arrested and later moved to the Women Police Station.

On Tuesday, she was presented before a court where she was released on bail.

Her husband is being reported missing by the police but is believed to be in Islamabad. The Express Tribune made several attempts to contact the couple for their version but they were unavailable for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2010.