A 10-year-old girl was found brutally tortured to death inside the palatial mansion of an influential local religious leader in Ranipur, near Gambat. The incident took place on Monday but news emerged on Wednesday.
The girl, who hails from Naushero Feroze, was identified as Fatima and had been working as a domestic maid at the house for a year.
Her mother was reportedly prevented from meeting her while she worked at the house of the local religious personality.
On Wednesday, her body was brought to her native town for burial.
Her grief-stricken mother said she was only informed that her daughter had died of severe stomach pain. But when they examined her body, it was covered with marks of severe torture, including bruises on her neck and back.
"How helpless my daughter would have been," her mother wailed.
"I demand nothing but justice for my daughter," she said, adding that financial constraints compelled her to send her daughter to work at a young age.
Questions over FIR
Ranipur SHO Ameer Chang has lodged an FIR of the girl's death. Still, he did so without issuing a letter for the medical examination of the deceased or asking for a post-mortem to establish whether torture was the cause of her death or something else.
SHO Chang, meanwhile, maintained that the child had died of severe stomach ache.
Earlier, closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from inside the house, obtained and broadcast by a television channel, showed the property owner had dragged the girl by her hair. In another video, she can be seen writhing on the floor of the house before lying motionless.
Meanwhile, SHO Chang has been suspended and Sukkur DIG Zafar Jaskani has constituted a high-profile team to investigate the matter from all angles.