In a tragic incident that has resumed concern about the security of domestic helpers, a 13-year-old housekeeper, Samia, has died under suspicious circumstances in Rahim Yar Khan.
Police have arrested a man and his wife who are suspected of being responsible for the alleged torture that led to the girl’s death in the city’s Gullhan-e-Iqbal area.
According to District Police Officer Irfan Samo, the victim, resident of Kotla Pathan, hired as a domestic helper in a man named Shahram for three years.
There have been disturbing details of Samia’s death, where the authorities indicated that she succumbed to violence that her employers inflicted.
In an attempt to hide the crime, Samia’s mother was informed of her daughter’s “sudden death” and got the body wrapped in a holster late at night.
When he returned home, the mother discovered serious signs of torture on Samia’s body and immediately warned police, which led to a quick investigation into the case.
DPO Samo confirmed that law enforcement conducted a timely raid and arrested the suspected couple who had tried to escape.
The girl’s body has since been handed over to her family after an examination after Mortem. The original medical findings revealed evidence of severe violence that was inflicted on the girl on the entire body, which further strengthened the claims of torture.
The police investigation is in progress while the incident triggered indignation and again led the critical question of childhood assistance and the urgent need for robust protection for vulnerable children.
This incident increases a troubled trend for both physical and sexual abuse and exploitation involving household workers who carry the head of working to meet their families’ needs in the midst of an economic stretch.
Last year, a 12-year-old housekeeper, Ayesha, was allegedly killed by her employers in Village 84 South, a suburb of Sargodha, where the smaller house worker was employed in a feudal named Jawad Bhatti.
The law enforcement said that Bhatti and his wife allegedly hit the baby with iron bars and sticks.
In another upset case that appeared in 2023, a 14-year-old girl, Rizwana, was brutally tortured by civilian judge Asim Hafeez’s wife Somia Asim while hiring as a domestic help in their home.
