Couple Arrested for Allegedly Murdering Girl, 13, Over Stolen Chocolates

A husband and wife in northeast Pakistan have been arrested in connection to the death of a 13-year-old girl who was employed as a maid for the couple.

Rashid Shafiq and his wife Sana were detained on suspicion of murder, while a Quran teacher who worked for them was also arrested, the BBC reported on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

The victim, identified only as Iqra, allegedly stole chocolate from the couple before being tortured to death, according to a preliminary police investigation. 

The teen died last Wednesday, Feb. 12. 

The Quran teacher reportedly brought Iqra to a hospital but left after falsely telling the staff that Iqra’s dad was deceased and her mother was not active in her life. It is unclear if the teacher believed the parents’ status to be the truth. 

Iqra’s father, a 45-year-old farmer named Sana Ullah, told the BBC that the 13-year-old was working for the Shafiq family because Ullah was in debt. The child made approximately $28 per month. 

“I felt completely shattered inside when she died,” Ullah told the BBC.

According to the grieving father, police contacted him last Wednesday to tell him his daughter had been hospitalized. When he arrived at the medical facility, Iqra was unconscious and died minutes later from multiple injuries. 

Preliminary findings suggested the torture and abuse had been frequent. “Pictures and videos obtained by the BBC showed multiple fractures in her legs and arms, as well as a serious injury to her head,” the outlet reported.

Human rights activist Shehr Bano condemned the abuse via social media. 

“My heart cries tears of blood. How many… are subjected to violence in their homes every day for a trivial job of a few thousand?” she wrote on X. “How long will the poor continue to lower their daughters into graves in this way?”

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Bano’s post contained video and a photo of the 13-year-old’s injuries as she lay in her hospital bed. The hashtag #JusticeforIqra was included in the tweet.

While Ullah told the BBC he wants to see “those responsible for my daughter’s death punished,” the outlet says, “It’s rare for suspects to be successfully prosecuted” for these types of cases.

An autopsy will determine the full extent of Iqra’s injuries.