FAISALABAD: Not a single official of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) appeared before the civil court on Sunday to contest the bail plea of an accused booked on charges of torture of an underage maid.

The accused, Rana Munir, was arrested by the Madina Town police after a case was registered against him and a woman of his family on charge of thrashing the 11-year-old maid, identified as Sadaf, a native of Sahiwal.

Samina Nadir, a child protection officer, had registered the case against Munir and the woman, who was not arrested.

Police kept accused in the lock-up and produced him before the court of Zulfiqar Ahmed, however, not a single official of the CPWB turned up to challenge his bail plea. The judge released Munir against surety bonds of Rs100,000.

The footage of torture of Sadaf had gone viral on social media on Saturday, showing her being slapped publicly after she had a brief scuffle with the children of the accused.

This scribe contacted Ms Samina of CPWB to know why neither any bureau official nor any member of its legal team appeared before the court to contest the bail plea. But she did not give any reply.

Robina Iqbal, the spokesperson for the CPWB Faisalabad, told Dawn the bureau usually did not appear in the cases of bailable offence. In this case, she added, neither the accused submitted a bail application nor did the court issue any notice. However, she claimed that the bureau would ensure justice for the victim.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2020