A sweeper at a government school in Sheikhupura has been arrested for raping a fifth-grader inside the school. Younas Masih was arrested on Monday after the child’s mother registered an FIR at the Housing Colony Police Station, Sheikhupura. The mother said after her child told her that she had been raped by the sweeper at the school she went to the police but they did not listen to her complaint. She said she then had to go to the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau who had the case registered by pressuring the police. Following the FIR, the child’s medical examination was conducted at the District Headquarters Hospital, Sheikhupura. It confirmed that she had been raped. .
“Humein tou koi insaan nahi samajhta”: The life of a sanitary worker in Pakistan
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Saturday Jan 23, 2021
Besides discrimination, sanitary workers in Pakistan are also at higher risk of contracting life threatening diseases. Photo: Geo.tv/ file
I had known Younas Masih for several years. He was my neighborhood’s go-to-person if a clogged sewer needed cleaning.
Often, I would watch an emaciated Younas jump into a dark, grimy sewer armed with nothing but a wooden stick. All he had were his bare hands to protect him.
When Younas fell ill, his family did not have enough money to get him proper medical care. When he died, they didn’t have enough for his burial.