LAHORE, Nov 18: Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered medical examination of two maidservants detained and tortured by their master, who alleged the girls had helped their father in stealing Rs1.5 million from his house.
Heads of both the girls, who were produced before the court by a bailiff, were shaved while one of them had a broken leg.
“May be, he does not have children of his own,” the judge observed while referring to girls’ master after seeing their condition.
The court sought medial examination report on Wednesday (today).
Earlier, the bailiff produced 12-year-old Anam and 10-year-old Sana before the court after recovering them from Usman Shaikh’s Model Town residence. The judge asked Shaikh’s counsel as to who gave him authority to detain and torture the girls.
The judge observed that prima facie Shaikh had taken the law in his hands and he should be ready to face the music.
Shaikh’s counsel said an FIR had been registered against the girls and their parents as they stole Rs1.5 million from his house.
He said Shaikh did not detain the girls, but admitted that they had been living in his house. The judge said even registration of a case did not allow anyone to subject a citizen to inhuman treatment and especially when he or she was a minor.
Sharif, a close relative of girls, had moved a habeas corpus petition, seeking recovery of the girls from Shaikh’s illegal custody.
Report sought: The Lahore High Court on Thursday directed the police higher-ups to submit till Nov 20 a report on alleged torture and abuse of a Class-VIII girl student of Bahawalpur by some men.
Justice Abdul Shakoor Piracha had been conducting suo motu proceedings initiated by LHC Chief Justice Syed Zahid Husain on the basis of a report that appeared in a local newspaper on Monday.
The report said Ismaeel Jutt, along with his sons and 20 other men, stormed the house of Sohail Anjum, a labourer, in Bahawalpur when he was away and dragged his daughter Waheeda outside her house after stripping her.
They also tied her with an electricity pole in the street and tortured her, the report said, adding that afterwards they took possession of Anjum’s house until the neighbourers rescued the girl. The girl’s parents said the local police were protecting the accused as they did not register a case.