A 12-year-old child has died in Rawalpindi's Holy Family Hospital after allegedly being beaten up by her employers. 

 

Iqra was rushed to hospital where she succumbed to the injuries she received during the assault. Police have arrested Rashid Shafiq and his wife Sana- Iqra's employers- from the city's Asghar Mall area. 

 

The child's father, a resident of Mandi Bahauddin, has registered a case against the couple for murder and other charges. He told the police that Iqra was employed by the couple for PKR 8000 per month. Police have stated that the couple had lied to the authorities by saying that  Iqra was an orphan. 

 

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that there are around 8.5 million domestic workers in the country, with a majority of them being women and young girls. 

 

Cases of child labour being beaten up and even killed by employers have haunted the country since many years. 

 

In 2023, Ayesha, an 11-year-old domestic worker, was killed by violence in Faisalabad. She got hired four months prior to her murder for a salary of 5,000 per month in a house belonging to a female lecturer in Naimat Colony.

 

Ayesha was beaten up on the allegations of theft to such an extent that she succumbed to her injuries and died.

 

Her parents have said that when they reached the Civil Hospital, they saw that their daughter was badly injured. They also revealed that they are being pressured by the influential suspects to reconcile, but they wanted them to be punished severely. Three of them were taken in police custody.

 

Then, in March 2024, Child Protection Bureau rescued a 14-year-old maid who was assaulted with scissors, knives, and sticks by the woman she worked for in the Garhi Shahu area of Lahore.

 

The woman cut the girl’s hair without her consent during the assault. Physical examination has revealed marks of physical violence on the body of the victim, identified as Sana.

 

In 2022, a body of a female house help was discovered in a cardboard box by police in Kahna on Friday, Ary News has reported. In the CCTV footage found by the police, two women — Bushra and her daughter Irum — can be seen dragging a cardboard box, which allegedly contained the victim’s body.

 

As per the police, the victim, named Yasmeen, worked at the house of Bushra. According to the police, the victim was first strangled and then stabbed.

 

The family of the victim has alleged that Yasmeen was killed by the mother and daughter.