Section IV — In the NewsThe Tahafuz Record
In The News
The reporting that
came before us.
Not a comprehensive archive. A starting point: the pieces we returned to most often while writing, and the ones we most want the next reader to see.
Filed from Lahore · Punjab · Ongoing
Named cases in Pakistan
Cases where a child's death or serious injury in domestic work forced the story into the national press.
- Dawn8-year-old girl 'beaten, killed' by employers in Rawalpindi over setting free their parrots: FIRJun 2020 ↗
- BBC NewsZahra: Pakistan couple face polygraph over child maid 'tortured to death'Jun 2020 ↗
- CNN8-year-old girl tortured to death for releasing pet parrots, police sayJun 2020 ↗
- AP NewsPakistani couple suspected of killing 8-year-old maidJun 2020 ↗
- BBC NewsPakistani child maid 'tortured in judge's house'Jan 2017 ↗
- DawnTayyaba torture case: Judge, wife handed one year in prison, Rs50,000 fineApr 2018 ↗
- DawnTayyaba torture case: IHC rejects parents' pardoning of accused, wifeMay 2017 ↗
- DawnRizwana: Police add cruelty-to-child section to FIR in Islamabad maid torture caseJul 2023 ↗
- DawnMaid torture case: Islamabad court orders arrest of civil judge's wifeAug 2023 ↗
- DawnMaid torture case: Court sends civil judge's wife to jail on 14-day judicial remandAug 2023 ↗
- The NewsRizwana tells police that judge's wife tortured her dailyAug 2023 ↗
- BBC News'Died for stealing chocolate': Pakistan anger over death of child maid IqraFeb 2025 ↗
- NDTV13-year-old domestic help in Pakistan allegedly tortured and killed for stealing chocolatesFeb 2025 ↗
- SPARCChild Domestic Labor case file: Iqra, 13, tortured to death in Rawalpindi2025 ↗
Law, policy, and investigations
Longer-form reporting on the legal architecture — where it exists, and where it fails.
International context
Comparable reporting from other jurisdictions where child domestic servitude has been documented and, in some cases, criminalised.