A couple in northeast Pakistan was detained on suspicion of killing a 13-year-old girl who worked for them as a maid to claim to steal chocolate candy.
The girl, who only goes with one name, Ikra, succumbed to many injuries to the hospital last Wednesday. A police investigation said she had been tormented.
The case in Ravalpindi provoked widespread outrage and posts with the #justiceforiqra hashtega, gathering tens of thousands of opinions and regaining the child work and the abuse of local workers.
Laws relating to child labor can vary throughout the country, but children under the age of 15 cannot be hired as domestic workers in the province of Pendjab.
“I felt completely broken inside when she died,” Ikra's father Sana Ulah told the BBC.
He said last Wednesday received a call from the IQRA. When he rushed to the hospital, he saw Ikra lying on bed, unconscious. She died minutes later.
Ira began working as a maid from the age of eight. Her father, a 45-year-old farmer, said he sent her to work because he was in debt.
After working for several employers, she went to work for the couple two years ago, who have their own eight children. She earned about 23 pounds ($ 28) a month.
Police said ICRA was accused of stealing chocolate candies by their employers, adding that a preliminary investigation shows that Ikra was tortured.
Police also claim that there was evidence of frequent abuse. Photos and videos obtained from the BBC showed numerous fractures in her legs and hands, as well as a serious injury to the head.
An autopsy is being held to evaluate the full degree of her injuries, and the police told the BBC that they are still expecting the final medical report.
“My heart cries tears from blood. How many … Every day are they subjected to violence in their homes for trivial work of several thousand? “, Writes Activist Cher Bano on xS “How long will the poor continue to lower their daughters into the graves this way?”
Others said her murder was caused by something so insignificant.
“She died of chocolate?” He asked a Pakistani user of X.
“This is not just a crime, it is a reflection of (a) a system that enables () the rich to treat () the poor like disposable,” another said.
Ikra Rashid Shafik's employers and his wife, Sana, have been arrested, along with a Koran teacher who worked for the family. The teacher had taken Ikra to the hospital and left after saying to the hospital staff that the girl's father had died and her mother was not around.
Police have told the BBC that it is not clear if she thinks this is the truth.
Ira's father says he wants to see “my daughter's death is punished.”
Despite the public outrage that such cases are usually collected, they are usually settled outside the court and rarely happen to be successfully persecuted.
In 2018, the judge and his wife were Sentenced to three years in prison To torment her then 10-year-old maid in what was a highly advertised case that caused outrage throughout the country. But later, they have reduced their sentences to a year.
Tajaba was discovered with severe injuries, which the Pakistani Institute of Medical Science said it included Burns in the hands and feet. Photos of the girl also showed cuts and bruises on the face, along with a swollen left eye. She told prosecutors that she had been beaten for a broom loss.
According to Pakistani law, victims or their families have the right to forgive suspects in a number of serious crimes. To do this, they must state in court that they forgive a suspect “in the name of God.”
In fact, legal observers say that the main motive for this “forgiveness” is usually financial and the payment of victims is not illegal.
About 3.3 million children in Pakistan are involved in child labor, according to the Children's Fund of the United Nations (UNICEF). In addition, women and young girls make up the bigger part of 8.5 million domestic workers in Pakistan, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).