ISLAMABAD: A woman allegedly involved in torturing her minor maid along with her husband obtained a bail before arrest from a lower court, police said on Friday.

The police had earlier arrested her husband and recovered the seven-year-old from his residence in Bahria Town. After the arrest of the man and the recovery of the child, the woman went into hiding.

A police officer told Dawn that the woman came back to the house but had obtained bail before arrest.

The hearing of the application filed by the woman for confirmation of the bail is scheduled next week. The officer said the police will try to get the bail cancelled and arrest the woman.

“It is a case of child labourer, slavery and torturing a minor,” the officer added. The couple, he alleged, was involved in the crime and parents of the girl were also a partner in the crime.

The prosecution department of the police has been approached for an opinion to book the parents too, he said.

“Actually, it was slavery as the parents received Rs7,000 from the couple per month,” he added.

Earlier, the personal assistant (PA) to Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari approached the station house officer (SHO) of Loi Bher police and informed him about the incident.

The officer said the police raided the house but found it locked from outside. Later, the owner was traced and asked to reach the house immediately.

Upon his arrival, the police entered the house and found the girl living in a room. A woman police officer asked the girl about the torture and the minor showed her wounds and bruises in her body.

The police then took the minor into custody and arrested her employer and shifted them to the police station.

During an inquiry, the minor told the police that her employers used to torture her over petty issues. She said her mother had left her at the house to work as a maid.

The officer said the man arrested by the police was a businessman dealing in garments. He told the police that he owned a house in G-10 but had taken the house in Bahria Town Phase II on rent.

The girl’s mother was working with them and in February she left for her native town of Multan leaving her daughter with the couple against Rs7,000 per month.

The man was produced in the court of a magistrate from where he was shifted to Adiala jail on a judicial remand, said the officer. The girl was shifted to a shelter house.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2020