Judge faces disciplinary proceedings for torture of 10-year-old house maid

ADSJ Khan and his wife had been booked for allegedly keeping 10-year-old housemaid Tayyaba in wrongful confinement

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court is likely to start disciplinary proceedings against an additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) this week for his alleged involvement in employing a child as a maid at his house and her subsequent torture.

A one-judge committee comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the IHC would first conduct an inquiry against ADSJ Raja Khurram Ali Khan, sources told The Express Tribune.



ADSJ Khan and his wife, Maheen Zafar, had been booked for allegedly keeping 10-year-old housemaid Tayyaba in wrongful confinement in their house, burning her hand over a missing broom, beating her with a ladle, detaining her in store room and threatening her of even worse..

The father of the girl had ‘forgiven’ the judge and his wife “in the name of God”. However, on January 4, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice of the incident and overruled the ‘pardon’ by exercising parental jurisdiction.

A police probe into the incident and a subsequent report by a medical board at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences confirmed torture and abuse of the maid by the wife of the judge, who himself has been accused of employing the minor as maid in the first place.

The IHC then stopped the judge from adjudication, making him an officer on special duty (OSD) – in line with an inquiry earlier conducted by the registrar of the court on the directions of IHC Chief Justice Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi.



The decision was taken by the IHC chief justice and a five-member administrative committee of the court.

About the ambit of the new inquiry committee, sources in the IHC said it would basically conduct disciplinary proceedings against the judge.

In this regard, the committee would summon ADSJ Khan, the victim and others and record their statements.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2017.