Employers arrested for torturing housemaid

The Darakhshan police on Wednesday arrested a man, his wife and another woman for subjecting a housemaid to brutal torture at their apartment on Street 2, Khayaban-e-Muslim in Phase 7 of Defence Housing Authority. 

The employers were reportedly infuriated when the 16-year-old victim, Javeria, failed to perform some chores assigned to her. The teenager and her father arrived at the Darakhshan police station with a complaint that her employers and another woman beat her up and burnt her with a hot clothes iron for not completing housework. Only one of the arrested people had been identified by police; the owner of the house, Abdur Razzak.

SHO Aurangzaib Khattak told The News that the police had referred Javeria to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a medical examination so that a case could be registered. According to JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemi Jamali, the victim was sent to the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) since the only female medico-legal officer (MLO) of the JPMC had left for the day. However, she confirmed that the victim had been tortured and burnt with a clothes iron.

SHO Khattak added that after verification of Javeria’s claims the police registered an FIR under section 324 (attempt to murder) and 337-B (exposing bone of the victim without causing fracture) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against Javeria’s employers on the complaint of the victim’s father, Rafique.

Javeria was admitted to the CHK Burns Centre for treatment. The SHO claimed that doctors had declared her condition to be out of danger and she would be discharged after a complete recovery. According to the SHO, the girl had been working at the house for over six months. 

“She claimed that the other woman had complained to the employers that she [Javeria] does not fulfil her assigned duties. But when Javeria tried to justify herself, the employers beat her up,” SHO Khattak said.

He added that Razzak, his wife and her female associate had been arrested and promised a thorough investigation. Sindh IGP A D Khowaja also took notice of the incident and has directed the SSP South to submit a report at the earliest. While the case was largely being reported as torture over domestic work, there were unconfirmed accounts of the employers’ dubious character and an even more nefarious agenda behind the assault.