Daily Times

It may be incredibly easy to blame widespread poverty as the root cause of child domestic labour whenever any heart-wrenching details about an employee abused or murdered wriggle their way to the mainstream but the situation is far too complex. That the wife of none other than a sitting overseer of law has been accused of severely abusing a 14-year-old should have become our watershed moment in the fight to win back our constitutionally guaranteed rights.

However, a flimsy FIR, little to no attention by media and a murmured vestige of outroar for a vulnerable girl who was beaten black and blue appeared instead. As the gavel hesitated in mid-air contemplating upon the consequences of taking action against one of its own, Rizwana is said to have lost faith in this world and left to plead her case in the Hereafter. But while she might find herself an empathic judge, a long list of discomforting questions needs to be addressed. Considering we have been down this road innumerable times, would the collective conscience again retire for a deep slumber? Whatsoever would become of Pakistan’s lofty international commitments that seek to provide a safe, enabling environment for children–the architects of a better tomorrow?

Although the maxim justice delayed is justice denied is usually taught as one of the first lessons to students of law, this should be once again taken up as a societal appeal addressed to members of the higher judiciary. The minute Lahore High Court decided to give leeway to the accused party, it had added to an already rampant sense of impunity enjoyed by anyone and everyone. Just a single ounce of authority is deemed enough in this strange, strange land to claim ownership over others’ bodies and souls.

Claims of abuse by employers over the slightest of shortcomings are commonplace. With more than 140 cases of abuse, rape and murders of children employed as household help daring to resist pressure tactics and making it to the centre stage in the last decade, there is an urgent need for the state to step in. Between 2010’s Shazia, 2016’s Tayyaba and 2023’s Rizwana, not much appears to have changed for these children of a lesser god. *