Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Ruling out a compromise between the parents of the minor maid Tayyaba and Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ), the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, has ordered the DIG Police Islamabad to constitute a high-level investigating committee to probe into the matter.

The Additional District & Sessions Judge, Raja Khurram Ali Khan, and his wife were booked for allegedly torturing a childmaid working in their house. However, the father of the 10-year-old housemaid, Tayyaba, “forgave” the judge and his wife.The court also allowed time to the ASJ’s wife Maheen Zafar, on her request of hiring counsel and ordered her to submit her reply by the next date of the hearing.

It further directed the police to ensure the appearance of the minor Tayyaba before the court on the next date of the hearing.

A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took up for hearing a suo moto case (SMC) over torture of the minor maid Tayyaba by ASJ Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar.

“We are the parents of the child. We are concerned about the child’s fundamental rights, which cannot be compounded,” Chief Justice Nisar observed.

CJP Nisar remarked, “No ‘agreements’ can be reached in matters concerning fundamental human rights.”

“Even parents cannot deny children their fundamental rights,” the judge observed. “How did they reach a settlement on torture against the child?”

CJP Nisar was referring to affidavits submitted in the court earlier this week after the father of the girl “forgave” her alleged tormentors, Additional Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife, Maheen Zafar.

In the affidavits, the girl’s father Mohammad Azam, her mother Nusrat Bibi and her aunt Pathani Bibi had stated: “I reached a settlement with Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar on my free will and hence forgave them unconditionally.”

He further observed that since the parents of the victim “have taken cognizance” the Supreme Court would now exercise parental jurisdiction in the instant matter.

During the course of the hearing, police officials informed the bench that the child could not been produced as the child and parents are untraceable.

The court directed the concerned authorities to utilise all modern tools to help produce the true picture.

“We want medical examination at the earliest and forensic tests of the photos and videos of the victim that appeared in the print and the electronic media, should be conducted,” observed Chief Justice Nisar.

“We need the real truth and nothing less,” the CJP said while directing the police officials to collect evidence and submit a comprehensive report.

Adding to the confusion, two women previously unheard of, appeared before the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar in the court, each claiming the girl in question is their child, after which the judge requested DNA tests.

Both, Kausar and Farzana maintained that their child went missing and were willing to undergo DNA tests, if required, to ascertain their relationship.

However the chief justice observed that DNA tests may be conducted of the two people.

The hearing has been adjourned until Jan 11.

In a First Information Report, the 10-year-old girl stated that she had been living at the house of Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan for nearly two years.

The girl claimed that she was often beaten up in the house.