ISLAMABAD: The Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Raja Khurram Ali Khan has obtained a pre-arrest bail from the court of his fellow judge in the minor maid case.

The ADSJ, who is now suspended, and his wife are facing charges of employing the minor girl as a maid and torturing her.

The ADSJ sought bail to prevent arrest for neglecting injuries of the minor maid.

Under Section 328-A of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), “an act of omission or commission, that results in or have potential to harm or injure the child by causing physical or psychological injury to him shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year and may extend up to three years or liable to fine which may not be less than one hundred thousand rupees and may extend up to three hundred thousand rupees or with both.”

An investigation into the alleged abuse of the maid found the serving judge employing the minor girl as a maid and confirmed torture on her body by the spouse of the judge.

An incomplete investigation report submitted to the Supreme Court on Jan 18 stated, “Investigation was carried out from all angles and it revealed that young Tayyaba was brutally tortured by the lady accused, Maheen.”

The police have accused the judge of employing the little girl as a maid without providing her an appropriate medical treatment on seeing the ‘acute’ injuries. “He cannot be absolved at this stage,” the report read.

ADSJ Raja Asif Mehmood Khan granted interim bail to Mr Khan. The court issued notices to the station house officer (SHO) Industrial Area and the parents of Tayyaba for January 26 when the pre-arrest bail of the accused may or may not be confirmed.

On Dec 2, after the completion of the initial inquiry, the ADSJ managed a compromise with the parents of the minor girl and on the basis of the compromise deed his spouse obtained a pre-arrest bail from ADSJ Raja Asif Mehmood the same day. On Dec 3, ADSJ Atta Rabbani handed over the girl to her parents in a ‘hasty’ manner.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar on Dec 4 took a suo motu notice on the torture and subsequent compromise.

On Jan 18, during the hearing of the case, CJP Nisar remarked that the compromise deed signed between ADSJ Khurram and the parents of Tayyaba was ‘unacceptable’ as her father was ignorant of the text written in the deed.

The girl’s father, while testifying before the apex court, said lawyer Raja Zahoor Hassan had brought him from Jaranwala to Islamabad and asked him to put his thumb impression on some papers which he could not read.

Published in Dawn January 24th, 2017