Ex-judge, wife get bail in torture case
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islamabad — The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted bail to a former additional district and sessions judge and his wife against a surety bond of Rs50,000 each hours after sentencing them to one year imprisonment in the Tayyaba child maid torture case, say media reports.
Earlier, the court imposed a Rs50,000 fine on Raja Khurram Ali Khan and wife Maheen Zafar. They were arrested from the courtroom after the verdict was delivered, the Express Tribune and Geo News TV reported.
The judgment observed that the evidence tendered by both the parties showed that the accused “neglected and/ or willfully harmed and abandoned” Tayyaba which “resulted in harm to her or had the potential of causing harm hence have committed the offence as charged and the prosecution has proved the same beyond shadow of doubt.” It stated that Khan and Maheen were jointly responsible for looking after the victim. “The version of the accused that the media hype was created about the incident and hence the FIR, is inconsequential are heard as the media hype has no bearing on the facts leading to the commission of the offence.”
After the verdict, the defence counsel submitted a bail plea. Accepting the request, the court fixed a hearing of the plea at 1pm on Tuesday. In its request, the defence has shown intent to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. “It is our fundamental right to file an appeal,” the plea read. The IHC had reserved judgement on March 28
Khan and his wife were charged with assaulting, confining, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning, harming and injuring the minor housemaid. They have been accused of keeping the girl in wrongful confinement, burning her hand, beating her with a ladle, detaining her in a storeroom and threatening her with even worse.