A couple in north-east Pakistan has been detained on suspicion of murdering a 13-year-old girl who worked for them as a maid, for allegedly stealing chocolates.
The girl who goes only by one name, Iqra, succumbed to multiple injuries in hospital last Wednesday. A preliminary police investigation said she had been tortured.
The case in Rawalpindi has sparked widespread outrage and posts with the hashtag #JusticeforIqra garnering tens of thousands of views, and reigniting debate over child labour and the mistreatment of domestic workers.
Laws pertaining to child labour can vary across the country, but children under the age of 15 cannot be employed as domestic workers in the province of Punjab.
“I felt completely shattered inside when she died,” Iqra’s father, Sana Ullah, told the BBC.
He said that he had received a call from the police about Iqra last Wednesday. When he rushed to the hospital, he saw Iqra lying on a bed, unconscious. She died minutes later.
Iqra began working as a maid from the age of eight. Her father, a 45-year-old farmer, said he had sent her to work because he was in debt.
After working for a few employers, she went to work for the couple two years ago, who have eight children of their own. She was earning about £23 ($28) per month.
Police said Iqra had been accused of stealing chocolates from her employers, adding that a preliminary investigation showed that Iqra had been tortured.
Police also say there was evidence of frequent abuse. Pictures and videos obtained by the BBC showed multiple fractures in her legs and arms, as well as a serious injury to her head.
An autopsy is being conducted to assess the full extent of her injuries, and the police has told the BBC that they were still awaiting the final medical report.
“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 pointed out that her murder was allegedly triggered by something so minor.
“She died over chocolate?” asked one Pakistan user on 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 employers, Rashid Shafiq and his wife Sana, have been arrested, along with a Quran teacher, who worked for the family. The teacher had brought Iqra to the hospital and left after telling hospital staff that the girl’s father had died and her mother was not around.
Police told the BBC it was unclear if she believed this to be the truth.
Iqra’s father says he wants to see “those responsible for my daughter’s death punished”.
Despite the public outrage such cases usually garner, they are typically settled out of court and it’s rare for suspects to be successfully prosecuted.
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In2018, 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 found with severe injuries, which the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science said included burns to her hands and feet. Pictures of the girl also showed cuts and bruising to her face, along with a swollen left eye. She told prosecutors she was beaten for losing a broom.
Under Pakistani law, victims or their families have the right to forgive suspects in a number of serious crimes. To do so, they have to state in court that they forgive a suspect “in the name of God”.
In reality, legal observers say that the primary motive for that “forgiveness” is normally financial, and paying victims is not illegal.
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 the vast majority of Pakistan’s 8.5 million domestic workers, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
