8-year-old domestic worker killed by employers in Rawalpindi for setting birds free

RAWALPINDI: A minor maid was tortured to death by her employers on Tuesday for setting birds free while cleaning the cages. 

According to reports, the eight-year-old, who hailed from Muzaffargarh, was hired to look after the child of a man identified as Hassan Siddiqui who worked in buying and selling birds and property.

Police officials told The Independent, Siddiqui confessed that he and his wife beat up the girl, who was working for them as a maid, in a fit of rage.

“[The] maid was cleaning the cage when she inadvertently let the two parrots free,” a spokesperson said. “Hassan and his wife got infuriated and brutally beat the maid.”

The publication further said the girl was brought to a private hospital on May 31 in an unconscious state and was kept on a ventilator in the ICU but died the next day.

Siddiqui, who had brought the girl to the hospital, had disappeared. However, he was later arrested along with his wife, according to a police report.

The hospital in its medical report said the minor had, “torture marks on her cheek, ribs and thighs.” Her body bore older bruises that had still not fully healed. The report also added that she had injury marks in areas suggesting possible rape.

Incidents of domestic workers tortured in Pakistan not new

Incidents of domestic help being tortured are not new in Pakistan. Last year, the battered body of 16-year-old domestic worker Uzma Bibi was found dumped in a canal and her wealthy employer had been charged with murder. In 2017 a famous TV presenter was charged with forcefully detaining her teenage maid.

On December 29, 2016, Tayyaba, a 10-year-old domestic help, was recovered from the house of a judge after receiving complaints of torture from neighbours. The issue sparked outrage on social media and led to calls for strict and swift justice.

An inquiry report by the police had found that the judge's wife was responsible for torturing the child maid, and the judge of indirect criminal negligence.

Later, on January 3, 2017, Tayyaba's parents reached a compromise and forgave the accused. However, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, took suo motu notice of the compromise agreement and ordered the IHC to conduct a trial of the case.

Following the incident, the IHC suspended the judge and made him an officer on special duty (OSD).

IHC Justice Aamer Farooq ruled that the suspended Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar would serve a year each in prison for torturing the child maid under Section 328-A (cruelty to a child).

On January 11, 2018, IHC increased the sentence of the judge and his wife taking their total jail term to three years.