A district and sessions court on Wednesday granted interim bail to a woman, the wife of a civil judge, accused of brutally torturing a teenage maid employed in her service.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ) Dr Abida Sajid granted pre-arrest bail to Somia Asim till August 7 against a surety bond of Rs100,000.
The court directed the accused to cooperate with the investigation and appear before ADJ Farrukh Farid at the next hearing.
In her bail application, the accused termed the allegations levelled against her in the first information report (FIR) ‘baseless, concocted and result of exaggeration’.
She maintained that the teenage maid was hired with the consent of her parents and no physical violence was committed against her.
The plea contended that the child maid was more than 17 years of age.
The victim’s family has maintained that the girl is 14 years old.
According to Pakistani laws, it is a crime to employ a child under the age of 16 as a domestic worker.
The plea acknowledged that the victim worked at the defendant’s residence without mentioning the duration of the employment.
The accused maintained her innocence in the plea, saying she ‘did not cause any of the alleged injuries to the victim’.
It added that the accused treated the victim in the same manner as her three children aged between nine to 12 years.
The plea contended that the accused was being maligned as part of a slander campaign carried out against her and her husband, the civil judge.
“Because of this serious mental trauma, she is in a state of life and death,’ the plea stated.
In her bail plea, Asim assured the court of cooperation with the investigation.
Reports in the sections of the media have attributed statements to the civil judge claiming that his wife had mental health issues ‘but she never hurt the child’.
There have also been reports that the judge’s family had contacted the victim’s family.
The girl’s father said in an interview that they had been contacted but they turned down the offer for financial compensation.
He did not mention who was the caller or the specifics of the offer.
Domestic violence Last month, the family of the minor housemaid took her to the District Headquarters Hospital in their hometown Sargodha in critical condition.
She had bruises and swellings, strangulation marks and clear signs of torture, according to doctors who first examined her.
The girl also had burn marks on her body.
She was later shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Lahore General Hospital, with doctors fearing for the teen’s life.
According to the hospital, she was brought in on July 24.
Meanwhile, the Sargodha police shared the case details with their counterparts in Islamabad.
Since then, the case has gained nationwide attention with the capital police first criticised for registering a ‘watered-down’ FIR that did not include sections pertaining to attempted murder and torture.
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