ISLAMABAD: Although a medical board waited several hours in vain for police to produce Tayyaba for a second medical examination, Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said there was no doubt the child had been tortured.

A board consisting of burns surgeon Dr Tariq Iqbal, plastic surgeon Dr Hameeduddin, general surgeon Dr S.H. Waqar and psychologist Dr Asma, was supposed to examine Tayyaba on Friday.

However, they ended up waiting for hours for police to produce the 10-year-old girl.

Both Farzana Bibi and Kausar Bibi – the two women claiming parentage of Tayyaba – also came to Pims later in the day, where blood and hair samples were collected from the two women for DNA testing.

Dr Akram said that the child’s parentage would be confirmed in a few days, provided they were able to obtain a blood sample from the child to compare against her purported parents’ DNA.

Explaining his assertion about the treatment meted out to the minor, Dr Akram said that after the examination conducted on her first visit to the hospital, there was no doubt that she had been physically abused. He said that the wounds on her body were not of the same age, adding that they seemed to have been inflicted at different times.

“During her first visit to the hospital, the child claimed she was burnt while trying to switch on the television. But the wounds indicated that a hot iron rod had been placed on her arm,” he said.

Initially, police prepared a report stating that the girl had fallen down some stairs and was accidentally injured.

But after the Islamabad High Court took notice of the matter, the girl changed her statement and told a magistrate she had been tortured by the family of the Islamabad additional district and sessions judge.

The judge and his wife were able to obtain bail after a couple claiming to be the child’s parents arrived in Islamabad and submitted affidavits to a local court stating they did not want to lodge a complaint against the accused.

But after the chief justice of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the incident, the district administration wrote to Pims, asking for a medical examination to be carried out.

Dr Akram told Dawn that on the basis of their last examination, on Dec 29, he could surely say the child was tortured.

“Though the child claimed she had fallen from stairs and was burnt while switching on the television, the wounds showed she had been tortured for a long time and harassed/forced by someone to give that statement. The burn injuries were not caused by electric current and I can surely say someone had [tortured her with] hot iron rods.”

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2017