12-year-old maid dies after alleged torture in Rawalpindi

• Employers Rashid Shafiq, wife arrested in Rawalpindi.
• Police register case on victim’s father’s complaint.
• Accused misled police about victim’s parents being dead.

RAWALPINDI: A 12-year-old domestic worker, who was allegedly tortured by her employers, passed away at Holy Family Hospital, hospital sources confirmed to Geo News on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in Rawalpindi's Asghar Mall area within the jurisdiction of Banni Police Station. The victim, identified as Iqra, was critically injured and rushed to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Police have arrested the primary suspects (the maid's employers), Rashid Shafiq and his wife, Sana.

According to authorities, a case has been registered against them on the complaint of the deceased's father, with the first information report (FIR) including murder charges along with seven other sections of the CrPC.

Iqra, a resident of Mandi Bahauddin, was employed as a domestic worker for a monthly salary of Rs8,000. Police revealed that the accused had previously misled authorities by falsely claiming that the girl's parents were deceased.

According to the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) estimates, there are at least 8.5 million domestic workers in Pakistan, the vast majority of whom are women and young girls.

Although domestic work is one of the biggest sources of employment in the informal economy, it is unregistered and excluded from the scope of labour legislation as it takes place in private households.

Many domestic workers report working in environments that lack proper sanitation and safety measures.

In 2022, the ILO released a study, which mentioned that in Pakistan, one in every four households employs a child in domestic work, predominantly girls, aged 10 to 14 years. 

As per Unicef, about 3.3 million Pakistani children are trapped in child labour, depriving them of their childhood, health and education, and condemning them to a life of poverty and want.