ISLAMABAD: Police have arrested a woman from Islamabad’s G-15 sector for allegedly torturing her 13-year-old maid.

According to the police, the accused woman, who is associated with an online business firm, was arrested over the allegation levelled by the housemaid’s mother, Khalida Bibi, who is a native of Chiniot in Punjab.

The accused was presented before a magistrate’s court and was later sent to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on judicial remand.

The Tarnol police have registered a case against the woman on charges of 328-A (cruelty to a child), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to the FIR, the girl, Andaleeb Fatima, had been working as a housemaid for the last one month at the residence of the accused woman. On August 16, Andaleeb’s mother came to Islamabad to see her after she failed to answer her telephone calls.

Later, when she met her daughter, she found marks of injuries on different parts of her body. The girl told her mother that her employer used to beat her and torture her with a hot spoon.

Later, the employer locked Andaleeb and her mother in a room, compelling them not to speak against her. Later, the woman allowed them to leave the house without paying salary to the maid.

The girl has been shifted to the hospital for medical examination, the report of which is still awaited.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2023