Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: A First Information Report was lodged by the Child Protection & Welfare Bureau on Sunday against Major Ammara Riaz and Dr Mohsin Riaz for torturing an 11-year-old domestic worker.

Addressing a press conference, the City Police Officer (CPO) Abbas Ahsan said, the incident was reported by Ammara Riaz’s neighbour Colonel Sajjad on Saturday but unfortunately duty officer Assistant Sub-Inspector Sajjad Hussain mishandled the case and did not inform the concerned officials on time.

CPO Abbas Ahsan said that police has retrieved Kinza with the help of Faisalabad police on Sunday.

She is under medical treatment in a hospital. According to the initial medical report, it is revealed that some injuries found on her body are old while the head injury she has, has been inflicted by a hard object. The injury required stitches.

An FIR has been registered under section 342/328-A/Ai/Fii/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and under section PDNC 34 with the compliance of Muhammad Naveed Akhtar of Child Protection & Welfare Bureau.

“We have also approached the military police and Pakistan Army for the disciplinary action against Ammara,” he said.

Answering a question, the CPO said, action will also be taken against the parents of the girl under the Child Protection Act. ASI Sajjad Hussain has been suspended for showing negligence in the matter.

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Dr Umar Jahangir, Senior Superintendent Police Operations Ali Akbar and Child Protection & Welfare Bureau officer Abid Shah were present during the press conference.

Kinza says she was employed as a domestic worker at the residence of Ammara, a major in the Pakistan Army and her husband Mohsin Riaz, who is a doctor by profession. The house is located in Wilayat Colony, Scheme III, Chaklala.

The CPO said that they only came to know about the case after Kinza’s photos and videos went viral, creating a social media outcry on Saturday.

He said the ASI concerned has already been suspended and a befitting action will be taken against him.

On Saturday, the injured child’s father had taken her to Airport Police Station, but policemen, fearing the government officer, did not register the complaint. Airport police forced the father to take her injured daughter back to their hometown Sumandari.

However, the child maid’s images and statement on social media went viral, in which the child is seen showing wound marks on her face, arms, neck and head, which she said received at the hands of her employers.

Abuse of domestic helpers is pervasive nationwide with scores of incidents reported regularly.

In 2017, an additional district and sessions judge and his spouse were convicted of burning a juvenile maid, Tayyaba’s hand over a missing broom, beating her with a ladle, detaining her in a storeroom and threatening her with even worse. Their one-year prison sentence was later enhanced to three years by Islamabad High Court.

Published in Daily Times, October 22^nd 2018.