Child maid torture: IHC to hold daily hearings

Police probe into the incident points towards violence and abuse

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has decided to hear on daily basis proceedings in a case where an Islamabad judge and his wife are accused of illegally confining and torturing their juvenile housemaid.

In the first hearing after the IHC had declared jurisdiction and decided to try the judge and his wife, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani ordered to provide copies of the prosecution papers to the suspect and declared that the court would hear the case on a day-to-day basis from April 28 (today).

Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar had been booked after the 10-year-old maid* accused them of keeping her in wrongful confinement, burning her hand, beating and detaining her in addition to threatening her of even worse.

Separately, Justice Kayani also conducted an inquiry against the judge in the case.

Justice Aamer Farooq had ordered to conduct the trial at the IHC while deciding the jurisdiction of the trial in the case.

Meanwhile, the court dismissed an application filed by activists on the issue of jurisdiction, observing that the petitioners had no standing in the case.

In a bid to deflect the notion that a fair and impartial trial cannot be held in any subordinate court, the high court decided to try the suspects.

According to the judgment, the court noted that the trial was being shifted from the sessions court to the IHC to ensure transparency.

On March 8, the Supreme Court halted the judge’s trial and had asked the IHC to consider transferring the case to either another trial court or assume its own jurisdiction to try the case.

Some activists had also urged the court to transfer the case to the high court to ensure a transparent trial.

The counsels for the judge and his wife, however, had opposed the transfer, claiming that it would affect the suspects’ right to appeal. They maintained that if the trial is shifted to the high court, the judge would lose two forums of appeal — the district and sessions court and high court.

Interestingly, the counsel for the maid and her parents had also opposed the move.

Earlier, the Supreme Court took suo motu action in the case after a compromise was struck between the parties concerned under questionable circumstances.

The apex court had voiced serious concerns over the compromise, handing over the child maid and suspicious role of the counsel representing legal heirs of the maid.

On January 3, the victim’s father ‘forgave’ the judge and his wife ‘in the name of God’ and struck a compromise.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2017.