Minor maids’ abuse cases are making headlines every other day, once again. And like in the past, the abusers are influential people, including at least one judge and one ‘pir’ in the current cases, who are believed to have gotten away with these inhuman acts and serious crimes. Last month the case of 14-year-old Rizwana surfaced, who had been tortured by civil judge Asim Hafeez and his wife Somia for months. She was brought to a Lahore hospital in a critical condition by her grandmother.

As per the text of the FIR, the complainant had sent her 14-year-old daughter to work as a domestic help on Rs. 10,000 monthly salary, with the reference of an acquaintance named Chaudhry Mukhtar, seven months ago. The girl’s parents found out about her being subjected to torture at the judge’s house on July 23 when they went to meet her.

The victim’s parents said they hadn’t met her during these seven months, but talked to her on the phone sometimes. They alleged that the girl was subjected to severe torture by the judge’s wife, and there were torture marks all over the child’s body. The major injuries described by the complainant include swelling on lips and eyes, broken teeth, and ribs and strangling marks on the neck.

The second case was reported to the press on August 16, revealing the death of a 10-year-old maid, who passed away under mysterious circumstances at the residence of an influential person in Khairpur district’s Ranipur in Sindh province. Initial findings reveal that the unfortunate incident took place within the premises of Pir Asad Shah Jilani’s Haveli. According to police sources, CCTV footage from the house’s bedroom has been obtained, revealing the distressed condition of 10-year-old Fatima.

Marks of torture are clearly visible on the victim’s body in other footage that went viral over social media, following the tragic incident. The mother of the deceased stated in her testimony that her daughter was working at Shah’s house when she passed away. A journalist, Riyaz Sohail, said in his report that parents of the ill-fated child had been threatened by the police not to report the incident to the press, hence she was buried without registration of a case.

Mother of the dead child told the media that her daughter was tortured to death, but she did not report the matter as her two other daughters were still in the custody of Asad Shah, the Pir of Haveli.

These are only two fresh cases of domestic help abuse, torture and murder. However, such cases continue to happen in Pakistani society. Every fourth household in Pakistan engages a domestic worker. Child domestic workers are silently abused, tortured and murdered and their physical abuse and exploitation is increasing. The situation will not improve without criminalising the practice of employing them, said Bushra Khaliq, executive director of an NGO, WISE (Women in Struggle for Empowerment), while talking to Cutting Edge.

She claimed that torture victim Rizwana is said to be 14-year-old, but, in fact, she is just above 12 years. Bushra said the minor was not the first to go through cruelty by the employer, there were several cases in the past. Data collected by WISE during the period from January 2019 to February 2021, shows 74 cases of violence against child domestic workers were reported in Punjab. In all the 74 cases, the victims were girls as young as 7-16 years.

During this period of 25 months, 15 child domestic workers were tortured to death, while 59 were subjected to severe violence causing injuries. In 2017, 10-year-old Tayyaba was severely tortured by an additional sessions judge. In 2020, eight-year-old Zohra was beaten to death by her employers. In 2019, 16-year-old Uzma was tortured and murdered by her employer. There may be many more that go unreported.

Article 3 of the Punjab Domestic Workers Act 2019 says, “No child under the age of 15 years shall be allowed to work in a household in any capacity.” There are about 675,000 domestic workers in Punjab as per the figures of Commissioner Social Security. One wonders why so many children of school-going age are domestic help. Why aren’t they in school?

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has defined domestic work as a modern form of slavery whose elimination by 2030 is part of Goal 8 (Target 8.7) of the Sustainable Development Goals, to which Pakistan is a party.

There is urgent need to generate data about child labour in domestic work. In the wake of domestic workers’ serious level of vulnerability, particularly of children and women, solid efforts are required for the ratification of C-189 and effective implementation of the domestic workers law to help improve the working conditions and lives of domestic workers.

Bushra Khaliq demanded free and compulsory education up to matriculation to all children under 16 years of age in compliance with Article 25-A of the Constitution.

(The writer is a physician by profession. She has worked as an intern at the Capital Health (New Jersey) & the Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital (New York). Rights and gender issues are the areas of special interest to her. She can be reached at: [email protected])