Court grants bail to couple in child maid torture case

Girl’s father retracts statement amid talk of ‘out-of-court deal’

RAWALPINDI:

A court in Rawalpindi on Thursday granted bail to a husband and wife, who were booked on charges of torturing their child housemaid, after the eight-year-old’s father told the judge that the case was filed over a ‘misunderstanding’.

The husband-and-wife duo of Bakhtawar and Alisher were arrested a day earlier, after the child maid escaped and informed the family about the torture. The case registered by police only included sections pertaining to cruelty to child and uprooting hair, with sections pertaining to attempted murder, illegal confinement, and trafficking not included.

On Thursday, the police brought the accused before Judge Meharun Nisa along with a document of a ‘compromise’ between the two parties. It contained the thumb impression of the complainant, a labourer from Rahim Yar Khan.

The investigation officer (IO) also submitted a statement of the girl’s father, stating he did not wish to pursue the case.

The victim, with her head covered in a dupatta ostensibly to conceal her head wounds, was also in court along with her father, with both teary eyed.

Following the submission of documents and statement, the court ordered the release of the two accused against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each.

Undue pressure

Before the arrest, the victim’s family had said that the girl was repeatedly tortured. Her medical examination also found bruises, dislocations and fractures. The FIR also alleged that the employers had placed a polythene bag on the girl’s face to kill her by asphyxiation.

However, their retraction within 24 hours of the couple’s arrest suggested pressure on the family from the accused as well as the police.

According to sources within the police department, the accused bribed the IO who resultantly termed the allegation weak. They said the IO threatened the complainant ‘in a sweet way’ while also threatening him of arrest for letting his under-age daughter work.

The sources added that the IO convinced the victim of the accused getting bail and then acquittal, and that it would be better for the complainant to come to an out-of-court settlement. It was under this pressure that the labourer agreed to the compromise, they said.

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He also told the court that the case was the result of a misunderstanding, and that the family did not want to pursue the case.

Those present in the courtroom said that the father clutched his daughter’s hand throughout the proceedings. “Now I am going back to Rahim Yar Khan with my daughter and we are never coming back,” he told The Express Tribune.

As soon as the order of release was issued, the accused looked at the investigating officer with a look of gratitude. After a while the accused and the investigating officer came out of the court smiling and departed.

The investigation officer was expected to submit the case dismissal report to the court next week after which it would be dismissed.