A few in north-east Pakistan has been detained for allegedly stealing candy and allegedly murdering a 13-year-old girl who worked for them as a lady.
The lady who goes only by one title, Iqra, succumbed to many accidents at the hospital next Wednesday. She had been tortured, according to a preliminary officers research.
The Rawalpindi case has sparked a lot of outcry, with messages using the hashtag# JusticeforIqra generating tens of thousands of views, and rekindling the debate about domestic workers ‘ abuse and child labor.
Children under the age of 15 could work as home workers in the province of Punjab, though regulations governing child labor vary across the nation.
” I felt totally shattered inside when she died”, Iqra’s parents, Sana Ullah, told the BBC.
He claimed that next Wednesday he received a call from the police about Iqra. When he rushed to the hospital, he saw Iqra lying on a pillow, incapacitated. Minutes later, she passed away.
Iqra started working as a girl when she was eight years old. Her father, a 45-year-old producer, said he had sent her to operate because he was in arrears.
She returned to work for the couple, who have eight kids of their own, after working for a few businesses. She was earning about £23 ($ 28 ) per month.
Iqra was charged with stealing candy from her businesses, according to the authorities, adding that a preliminary investigation revealed she had been tortured.
Additionally, the authorities claim that there is proof of regular abuse. Many injuries in her legs and arms, as well as a serious head injury, were revealed in photos and videos obtained by the BBC.
The authorities have informed the BBC that they were still awaiting the final medical record, and an examination is being conducted to determine the total amount of her wounds.
“My heart cries tears of blood. How many… are subjected to violence in their homes every day for a trivial job of a few thousand?” activist Shehr Bano wrote on X. “How long will the poor continue to lower their daughters into graves in this way?”
Others have argued that her death was reportedly the result of a thus minor incident.
” She died over chocolates”? posed a Muslim person with X.
” This is not just a crime, it’s a reflection of]a ] system that enables]the ] rich to treat]the ] poor as disposable”, another said.
Iqra’s companies, Rashid Shafiq and his family Sana, have been arrested, along with a Quran professor, who worked for the home. After telling medical personnel that the woman’s parents had passed away and her mother was not present, the teacher took Iqra to the doctor and drove her away.
Authorities told the BBC it was not clear whether she believed this to be true.
Iqra’s papa says he wants to view” those accountable for my mother’s dying punished”.
Despite the general outcry that these cases usually cause, they are generally settled out of court, and it’s uncommon for suspects to succeed in getting their charges dropped.
In 2018, a judge and his wife were sentenced to three years in jail for torturing their then 10-year-old maid in what had been a highly publicised case that sparked outrage across the country. But they later had their sentences reduced to one year.
Tayyaba was discovered with serious injury, including burn to her hands and feet, according to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science. A bruised left eye and cuts to the girl’s face were also visible in the girl’s images. She claimed to have been beat because she had lost a brush, according to the prosecution.
Sufferers or their families have the right, under Pakistani law, to pardon someone for a number of grave offences. In order to do this, they must formally status in judge that they “forgive a suspect in the name of God.”
In fact, legal watchers say that the principal motive for that “forgiveness” is usually financial, and paying sufferers is not outlawed.
About 3.3 million children in Pakistan are engaged in child labour, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund ( Unicef ). Moreover, women and young girls make up a vast majority of Pakistan’s 8.5 million domestic workers, according to the International Labour Organisation ( ILO ).