LAHORE  - Fourteen-year-old housemaid Fiza Batool succumbed to her injuries on Sunday night after two days of treatment at Services Hospital. She was kept in the intensive care unit.
A number of policemen were present at the hospital. The body of the deceased was not shifted to morgue for autopsy till the filing of this report.
The accused, Prof Salman Rafique, has already been in police custody. The cops produced him before a judicial magistrate, requesting for a six-day physical remand.
However, the judge sent him on a three-day physical remand and directed police to produce him again on the next date of hearing.
Fiza Batool, a resident of Sialkot district, had been working as a housemaid at Professor Rafique’s DHA residence for the past five years.
Fiza was allegedly tortured by her house owner on Friday night. The house owner then reportedly took her to a nearby hospital but the administration of the hospital refused to treat her due to her serious condition as they believed it was a police case. The doctors advised the house owner to immediately take her to a public hospital; otherwise she might die.
Later, the victim was shifted to Services Hospital where the administration informed the police about the injured girl. Police reached the spot and immediately started investigation. The news of this brutal torture spread across the city.
Investigators said they were waiting for a laboratory report to ascertain as to whether the victim was sexually assaulted. The police official said that the son of the accused professor was also being investigated.
It may be mentioned here that it was the fourth incident in Lahore city in which a housemaid died from injuries inflicted by her master.
Only days ago, Iram Ramazan, who hailed from Jandara, Okara, died after she was brutally tortured by her employer Nasira and her husband Altaf. Altaf had hired Iram to work in his house for Rs 2,500 a month.
Similarly, Azra, 16, who was a house maid at a house located in Faisal Town, was tortured by three brothers and she died of her injuries. Azra was the daughter of poor laborer from a village near Pattoki city of District Kasur.