Police clueless as judge’s wife eludes arrest

Gets bail from LHC in child maid torture case

ISLAMABAD:

Even as politicians, activists and citizens express outrage and call for swift justice in the case of the brutal torture of a domestic child worker allegedly by the wife of a civil judge in Islamabad, the capital police have failed to arrest the suspect. Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court on Thursday granted bail to the main accused.

The case first emerged on Monday when videos of the bruised and battered 14-year-old girl were widely shared and reported on social and national media. The victim’s family, who had gone back to their hometown Sargodha, said the wife of the civil judge was responsible for the torture.

The police had initially said that efforts were in progress to arrest the “female accused.”

A police spokesperson added that raids had been carried out at the Islamabad and Gujranwala residences of the judge as well as their house in their ancestral village, but they had been unable to locate the accused.

The police’s failure to arrest resulted in condemnation from social activists and political leaders. The police were also criticised over the sections included in the report including the omission of sections pertaining to attempted murder and torture.

The first information report (FIR), registered at the Humak police station, included sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The medico-legal certificate (MLC) mentioned 15 injuries on the body of the girl, including marks of strangulation and torture.

Ayesha Raza, the chairperson of the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC), tweeted on Thursday that Section 328-A (cruelty to child) had been added to the FIR. She added that a special medical board had been formed for the child, who remained under treatment in Lahore. She was moved there in critical condition from the local hospital in Sargodha.

Meanwhile, the husband of the accused was also in the wind. The civil judge, Amin Hafeez, is also an administrative officer of the Islamabad Judicial Academy.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2023.