ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended the sentence against Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Raja Khurram Ali and his wife, Maheen Zafar, in the case pertaining to torturing the minor maid working in their home.

An IHC division bench headed by Justice Athar Minallah suspended the sentence after a preliminary hearing of the appeal filed by ADSJ Khan and his wife.

On April 17, IHC Justice Aamer Farooq convicted and sentenced the couple to one year’s imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on each of them.

The couple were facing six charges relating to torturing their housemaid, Tayyaba, including keeping her in illegal confinement.

On April 17, IHC Justice Aamer Farooq had sentenced the couple to one year’s imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on each of them

However, the court exonerated the judge from five charges and convicted him under section 328 of the Pakistan Penal Code for ill-treatment towards Tayyaba.

“The evidence mentioned above as tendered by the parties clearly shows that the accused persons neglected and/ or wilfully harmed and abandoned Tayyaba Bibi which resulted in harm to her or had the potential of causing harm hence have committed the offence as charged and the prosecution has proved the same beyond shadow of doubt.

“Both the accused have admitted that Tayyaba was working as maid at their house thus was in their care,” the court ruled.

It went on to say, “Raja Khurram Ali Khan being the head of the family and Maheen Zafar being responsible for the daily domestic affairs were jointly responsible for looking after and taking care of the child i.e. Tayyaba Bibi. The version of the accused that the media hype was created about the incident and hence the FIR, is inconsequential in as much as the media hype has no bearing on the facts leading to the commission of the offence.”

The court declared that “in view of above, the prosecution has been able to prove the charge under section 328-A PPC, hence the accused persons Maheen Zafar and Raja Khurram Ali Khan both are jointly responsible for it and are accordingly convicted. They are acquitted of all other charges.”

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar in January last year took suo motu notice of the case and remanded it to IHC for conducting a trial. On May 16, 2017, IHC indicted the accused persons after rejecting the compromise deed between the parents of Tayyaba and the judge and his wife, observing that the application for compounding the offence with the parents of the minor is not maintainable as the state had performed its duties and taken care of the child since the registration of the case.

The police registered a case against ADSJ Khan and his wife for keeping the minor housemaid in illegal confinement, burning her hand, beating her with a ladle, detaining her in a storeroom and threatening her of dire consequences.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2018