Postmortem of trauma

The tragic case of Fatima Furiro is one of several in recent weeks, along with those of Rizwana and Andleeb in Islamabad, that have put the spotlight on the violent abuse of underprivileged and underage girls employed by the rich and powerful as housemaids. All these cases involve young girls from poor families compelled to send their daughters to work in the homes of the more affluent being subject to violent torture and abuse. Fatima’s case might be the most harrowing thus far; not only has the 10-year-old girl lost her life but the medical board formed to conduct the post-mortem examination of the girl has concluded that she might have also been subjected to sexual abuse. It has also been reported that the SHO of Ranipur, along with a doctor and a compounder have been suspended and are alleged to have tried to protect the culprits behind Fatima’s abuse. It is hard enough to imagine the kind of person that would be willing to carry out such horrific forms of abuse against a child. That this person might also enjoy a network of support and influence that would go as far as to shield him from such a heinous crime is even harder to stomach. Had Fatima’s death not been placed under the kind of scrutiny it has, the accused might well have never spent a day behind bars.

Ten-year-old Fatima Furiro was found dead inside the haveli of an affluent pir in Ranipur, Sindh last week CCTV footage recovered from the house had shown the heart-wrenching final moments of the minor girl who was seen writhing in pain on the floor as her alleged employer slept. After social media outrage, the police arrested the accused and an FIR was registered against the people involved.

The fates of Fatima, Rizwana and Andleeb are an inevitable risk of life for far too many children in our country. While there are laws in place to prevent both child labour and child abuse, enforcing them in the context of such widespread inequality and deprivation is another matter. The state cannot legislate its way out of this problem. More has to be done in terms of providing the underprivileged access to tangible basic services like education and health so that so many families are not forced to send their young children to work in the first place. It must also be noted that for every case of abuse that comes to light there might be dozens more taking place that are never reported on, given how extensive the employment of small children is in our country. Some might have even been buried with the help of those meant to stop these crimes, as is being alleged in Fatima’s case. There does not appear to be any system that keeps track of where and by whom children are employed and whether they are of the legally required age and checks on them regularly to ensure that they are not being subjected to abuse – more so in situations such as the one in Ranipur where the family of the accused is not just affluent but wields immense power financially and socially on the local population. That such a system is not in place speaks to how little value the state places on protecting the most vulnerable in our society.