Tayyaba torture case: Suspended judge, wife challenge IHC conviction

Judgment based upon misreading and non-reading of evidence, says petition

Suspended judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar on Friday filed an appeal against their conviction in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the Tayyaba torture case.

"Impugned judgment manifests that it is illegal, oppressive, beyond the domain of section 328-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) based upon misreading and non-reading of evidence," the petition read.

In their petition, the convicts have pointed to 'flaws' in the judgment and the proceedings and have challenged it in accordance with those.



On Tuesday, the IHC convicted Khan and his wife on charges of harming, neglecting and abandoning their juvenile housemaid, Tayyaba, employed at the judge’s residence in the capital. The case grabbed the country’s attention in December 2016.

Justice Aamer Farooq sentenced Khan and his wife to one year in jail each and also imposed fines of Rs50,000 each on them under Section 328-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) in the minor housemaid’s case.

The two convicts, however, could not be arrested as they obtained bail a couple of hours after their conviction against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each. Before the pronouncement of the judgment, the accused were also on bail.

The court order stated that the accused shall be arrested immediately to serve the sentence but the convicted judge remained inside the courtroom to avoid arrest. The courtroom was packed with lawyers when Justice Farooq took up the bail plea later on and, subsequently, granted bail.

Justice Farooq in the judgment said the prosecution had been able to prove the charge under Section 328-A of PPC. “Hence the accused persons Maheen Zafar and Raja Khurram Ali Khan both are jointly responsible for it and are accordingly convicted,” the order read.



“Khan and Zafar are punished with imprisonment of one-year simple imprisonment with a fine of Rupees 50,000 each and in default to serve one-month imprisonment,” the judgment read. They were acquitted of other charges.