Shazia Masih

Shazia Masih (May 20, 1997 – January 22, 2010) was a young girl from Pakistan's Christian community. Near her 12th birthday, she was hired to work as a house maid in the home of the former President of the Lahore Bar Association, Chaudhry Naeem. After eight months of employment in Naeem's home, she was found dead with marks of alleged torture on her body.

Masih's case was brought into the limelight by the unusual circumstances of her death. The case initially garnered widespread media attention in Pakistan and around the world. Allegations of rape, torture and inhuman treatment were leveled against Naeem's family based on the original autopsy report. Naeem and his family were charged with murder. However, they were acquitted at trial because the original autopsy report was not presented. Instead a newer medical report was presented that said Masih died of a skin disease. In addition, the police presented confusing and conflicting statements from witnesses at trial. The verdict in the Shazia Masih case was protested by Pakistan's Christian minority.

Background Shazia Masih was born on May 20, 1997. Her parents were Akbar Masih and Nasreen Bibi. After her father died while she was young, her mother married her step-father, Bashir Masih, who was a sweeper. She lived in a rented room with her mother, step-father and five siblings in a slum in Samanabad, Lahore. Shazia Masih was the third child.

Circumstances of death On Friday, 22 January 2010, Masih's step-father, Bashir, received a call from Chaudhry Naeem reporting that Masih had fallen down the stairs. She was admitted to Jinnah Hospital. Doctors at Jinnah Hospital initially told her parents and the media that Masih was dead on arrival, and that she may have died about four days earlier based on the state of the body. Staff alleged that Masih had broken her jaw, ribs and right arm, and that her body bore signs of blunt force trauma on her sensitive parts,

Masih's mother and step-father separated after the trial.