Police with the help of secret agencies recovered Tayyaba, a ten-year-old maid, who was allegedly tortured while working at the residence of an additional sessions judge, from a suburban area of Islamabad.
Tayyaba had mysteriously gone missing after the case was highlighted on media upon which the Supreme Court had taken a suo motu action.
The whereabouts of the girl and her parents had become a major issue as the Supreme Court had summoned the child’s parents to appear in the court.
The apex court had directed police to find Tayyaba and carry out a full investigation into the case.
The case shocked many after she was recovered from the residence of additional sessions judge.
The child initially told police she had fallen down the stairs and burnt her hands by accident, according to media reports.
In a later statement, she said that she was beaten and that her hands were burned on the stove by the judge’s wife, reports have said, citing police. The authorities then placed the girl into a women’s shelter.
But on Tuesday the child’s father told the authorities that he had forgiven the judge and his wife and that his daughter’s story was untrue, so no charges were brought, national newspapers reported.
The girl’s parents were then reported to have taken her from the women’s shelter and disappeared with her.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar demanded that child must be found and a full investigation to be held by next Wednesday.
Current figures detailing the precise scale of child labour in Pakistan are not available; the last official national survey was carried out in 1996 which marked the number of working children at 3.3 million.
According to Human Rights Watch, approximately 13 percent of the children aged 10 to 14 in Pakistan are engaged in child labour.
There are no surveys on domestic child labour as such, but Islamabad-based child rights NGO SPARC (Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child) estimates that some 15.5 million children are involved in domestic work.
