No hiding place

Events surrounding the case of Tayyaba, a ten-year-old child who was dreadfully tortured while working at the house of an additional sessions court judge and his wife, continue to develop. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday made Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan an officer on special duty (OSD) after an enquiry conducted by a registrar on the instructions of IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi. Yet another instance of the apex courts being proactive in instances where lower courts have failed to be as diligent as they should have been. It is becoming ever clearer that there were attempts both by the accused and by the police to have this case buried and off the books, and the arranged ‘forgiveness’ by the child’s alleged parents was little more than an effort to do just that.

Matters came to light after a woman took pictures of the injured child whilst visiting the house of the accused on December 28^th. That phone and the pictures are now being forensically examined to ensure that there has been no tampering, but the extent of the injuries to Taayba is now revealed and they are truly horrific, far beyond what was originally reported. Medical investigation shows that she had burn and trauma injuries and infections on her face and neck, both knees, her right thigh, left toe, back, right and left arms and the right buttock. This is a pattern of injuries that were sustained over time, some were partly healed. Burn marks were ‘contact’ — somebody had applied a hot object to this child. The burns were new and old, inflicted at different times.

This plumbs the darkest depths of cruelty and sadism. Taayaba will have been so traumatised that she is going to require specialist help for years to come if she is to make any sort of recovery. Those who did this to her must be punished with the full force of the law. Thus far and up to the point of SC intervention the case reeks of the culture of impunity. There must be no hiding place for the guilty and justice for Taayaba must be seen to be done.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2017.

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