Housemaid torture case: judge, wife appeal against conviction

ISLAMABAD: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here on Friday issued notices to the respondents in the criminal appeal of the convicted couple Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar seeking to set aside the conviction awarded to them by an IHC judge Justice Aamer Farooq.

IHC division bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Minagul Hassan Aurangzeb here on Friday issued notices to the state and minor Tayyaba. IHC Justice Farooq on April 17 had awarded one-year imprisonment sentence with Rs50,000 fine each to OSD judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar in juvenile house maid Tayyaba torture case. The sentence was awarded to both husband and wife under section 328-A of PPC for ill-treatment meted to the child and court rejected other charges of torture and causing disappearance of Tayyaba. After the sentence was awarded both husband and wife got bails in couple of hours.

The couple filed an appeal against the sentence here on Friday and it was also heard. The appeal has been filed under section 411-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Appellants have cited Tayyaba and State as respondents. Appellant have adopted that the single judge did not decide this matter on merit looking into the available data and convicted the two at the basis of his own findings.

Section 328-A, under which the husband and wife have been penalized, is not applicable in this particular matter and judgment is a manifestation of misreading of the situation and it is fundamental principle of the criminal cases that benefit of doubt is always extended to the accused. Appellants said that there is no evidence that they mal-treated the child, tortured and abandoned her. During cross-examination, Tayyaba accepted that Raja Khurram and his wife used to take care of the child like their own daughter. She used to play with toys and another woman was housemaid in their house.

Father of Tayyaba, Muhammad Azam appearing before the court, also made similar contentions but the judge did not discussed this in his judgment. Statements o 16 witnesses were recorded before the court and every statement is tainted with infirmities sufficient to discredit the case of prosecution, appellants said. Appellants have prayed to the court to accept their appeal and they may be acquitted setting aside the April 17 judgment.