IHC extends jail term of suspended judge, wife in Tayyaba torture case

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered a three-year extension in jail term of a suspended judge and his wife who were found guilty of torturing their child maid.

The ruling came out following an order by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar on June 4 where he urged the IHC to settle on the appeals filed by suspended Additional and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar, who had sought to overturn their sentence that sent them one year behind the bars for torturing their underage maid Tayyaba.

The appeal of the convicts was dismissed by a division bench consisting of Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb who instead extended their jail time to three years and imposed a fine of Rs0.5 million as well.

A 46-page judgment was released by the bench regarding the case.

The statement had read: "Keeping in view the above principles and law and the facts and circumstances of the instant case, we are satisfied that there is no mitigating factor which would call for handing down the lesser sentence. The appellants are not worthy of any sympathy because the ill treatment and neglect was willful and cannot be justified on any ground whatsoever. They were aware and they deliberately and consciously made an innocent and helpless child to suffer tremendously."

It went on to add, "While parting we cannot restrain ourselves from recording our observations regarding the failure of the criminal justice system in protecting the most weak and vulnerable members of the society."

The judgment had also read that the concerned police station's in-charge Khalid Mehmood Awan had not complied with the orders of "putting the legal process into motion" after he was informed about Tayyaba's case.

"The Inspector General of Police, Islamabad Capital Territory is, therefore, expected to probe the role of Khalid Mehmood Awan, PW16, particularly regarding the making of the video placed on record as Ex DA. The Inspector General is also expected to take urgent and appropriate measures to ensure that professional officers, specially trained to deal with victims who are children, are entrusted with cases relating to them," it stated.

"If rule of law is to prevail and the criminal justice system is to be made responsive to the weak and against alleged offences committed by the stronger and privileged segments of the society then even the slightest dereliction of duty by officials inevitably has to be dealt with sternly," it further added.

The one-year sentence to the convicts was previously announced on June 16th by IHC Justice Aamer Farooq, for inflicting abuse on Tayyaba under Section 328-A (cruelty to a child).

The convicted couple was also fined Rs50,000 each for the felony of employing a child below the age of 12. The two had, however received bail soon after the declaration of the judgment.

Later on April 23rd justices Azharmanullah and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb comprised two-member bench dismissed their sentences.

Ten-year-old domestic helper Tayyaba was recovered on December 29th 2016 from the residence of the judge following complaints filed by neighbors of torture.

Consequently, the judge and his wife had an FIR filed against them at the I-9 police station.

Reports by the police suggested that the wife was found guilty of inflicting torture whereas the judge was found responsible for criminal negligence.

Soon after, the offenders were forgiven by Tayyaba's parents as a compromise on January third 2017.

The CJP however took suo moto notice of the negotiation accord and demanded another trial to be carried out by IHC of the case.

After the incident, the judge was given suspension and was made an officer on special duty (OSD) by IHC.

The case was inclusive of a total number of 19 witnesses out of which 11 were from civil servants and eight of private witnesses which also included parents of the victim.