Injured housemaid, 10, recovered from judge’s house in Islamabad

Police launch investigation; judge requests FIA to book social media users for spreading ‘fake news’

ISLAMABAD: Police on Thursday recovered a badly injured 10-year-old girl from the house of a sessions judge. The move came after allegations that the girl had been employed as a housemaid in violation of child labour laws and had been subjected to torture.

An FIR was also registered against the judge on Thursday evening for threats and wrongful confinement.

The controversy started after pictures posted on microblogging website Twitter showed a child with a swollen eye and injuries to her face and hands went viral on social media on December 28. The posts claimed that the girl had been beaten up by Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan for allegedly failing to repay a loan of Rs6,000.



On Thursday, a police team recovered the child from the judge’s house in Sector I-8 after the issue was taken up by human rights activists in Islamabad. Police sources told The Express Tribune that the girl, T*, had injuries to and around her eye and burns on one of her hands.

Police sources said that in her initial statement, the child told them that she had accidentally fallen and injured herself. The police, however, took her to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for medical tests.

Later, in a statement recorded before Assistant Commissioner Nishaa Ishtiak, T said that she had been living at the judge’s house for nearly two years after she had been brought there. She claimed that she was often beaten up there. Most recently, she said  ‘Mano Baji’ at the house had allegedly shoved her hands onto a burning stove and then beat her up after a broom had gone missing. She added that the owners of the house would usually lock her up in a storeroom at night and would often starve her and beat her.

Police officials, while confirming that they had recovered the girl from the judge’s house, said that she worked as a domestic servant there.

A police officer said there were allegations that the child was tortured by the judge and that a subsequent FIR filed based on her testimony was against the Mano Baji and Khurram Bhai at
the house.



“We are investigating this. It is possible that she may have been thrashed by somebody else in the house,” the officer said. The officer added that they had not received her medical report yet.

Judge files cybercrime case

Meanwhile, the Judge Khan has written a letter to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general claiming that “fake news” about him was being circulated on social media to “defame the institution of the judiciary”.

The judge has requested the FIA’s cybercrime wing to book those spreading allegations on various social media platforms. The judge in his letter has listed at least two Twitter accounts – @omar_quraishi and @june_aid.

*Name of minor child withheld

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2016.