Grandfather of Sara Sharif urges his son to hand himself in
GuardianAug 12, 2023
Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead at her Surrey home in the UK in August 2023, was reportedly forced by her father into all-night sit-ups because she hid his keys. Sharif's stepmother had accused her father Urfan Sharif of thrashing the child for being "naughty.”
The stepmother, Beinash Batool — who, along Urfan Sharif and his brother Faisal Malik, is under trial for the girl's murder — reportedly informed her sister Qandeela Saboohi via WhatsApp messages sent in 2020 and 2023 about the physical abuse, adding "he will live to regret."
In one such message, Batool referred to an image of a bruised Sara Sharif, saying, “You haven’t even seen her body, it’s a whole lot worse.” Before her death, the child was beaten with a cricket bat, burned with an iron, restrained, and “homemade hood” placed over her head.
Sara Sharif's tragic death must not be forgotten, for her suffering symbolizes a call for urgent reform to protect all children. Allegedly tortured and silenced, her young life was surrounded by adults who saw, heard, yet remained silent. As a society, we cannot afford complacency, nor the notion that “reasonable chastisement” has any place in a world that values the innocence and rights of children. Sara’s memory demands that we reevaluate our laws and safeguard the vulnerable before another life is lost.
Sara Sharif's death highlights a harrowing systemic failure in child safeguarding. She was failed by an overwhelmed, under-resourced system unable to act in time. Campaigners call this failure catastrophic, accusing a rigid bureaucracy focused on targets over human intervention. Despite prior reforms and pleas for resources, children like Sara remain neglected in a crisis-laden system. Her death underscores a desperate need for accountability and a radical overhaul in safeguarding vulnerable children.