A court in Rangpur recently sentenced a retired assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police and his wife to life term rigorous imprisonment for murdering their housemaid after rape about 15 years back. It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. However we would still like to appreciate that fact that these two criminals have not been able to get away with murder. The conviction of people who torture their domestic help is rare instance of the law taking its course. In most cases domestic helps are treated as virtual slaves and their families often lack the financial means to seek legal redress against powerful employers – a situation that leads to virtual impunity for the abusers.

Abuse of any human being should not be tolerated. It is a matter of greater concern when the victim is someone who is in a weaker position and, perhaps, too meek to get help. The continuum of abuse ought to have shown distinct differences in behaviour, from the past to the present - considering the better education and quality of life available now, as well as maturing social norms. However, the tales of maid abuse still smack of primitive brutality that one might associate with acts against hardened foes and not a hapless domestic help. The continuing violence suggests the pathology of maid abuse is still not well understood and, consequently, not adequately addressed.

Attitudes everywhere might spring from the way domestic work is devalued, degraded and made invisible, as sociologists have pointed out. Considerable labour and the right temperament is required to care for the young and old, and to maintain households so working adults can focus on economic activities.

Female domestic employees in this sector suffer because of a gender bias as well. The parents of a young maid, for instance, might withdraw a case of domestic violence to save face and retain family income, as state protection for victims is weak.

In this country, there is usually no contract or job description for domestic workers. As a result, they end up doing all the household chores. From cleaning and dusting, to cooking, washing and ironing, a servant is a general purpose help. People here unfortunately have a common mindset to treat the domestic workers as slaves. They believe they have the right to beat them whenever they want and punish them brutally because of their helpless situation. People need to change their mindset while society needs more preventive measures instead of protective thinking.