By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: The wife of the civil judge accused of abusing and torturing a 14-year-old deomestic help was arrested on Monday after a court in Islamabad cancelled her bail application.
Somia Asim, wife of Civil Judge Asim Hafeez, had secured interim bail to avoid arrest on the allegations of torturing minor girl Rizwana employed as domestic help at their house.
The harrowing case of brutal treatment of the child came to light earlier this month when Rizwana’s parents shifted her to a Lahore hospital with serious injuries. They alleged the judge’s wife had inflicted severe torture on their daughter.
On Monday, Somia appeared before Additional District and Sessions Judge Farrukh Fareed with her legal team for hearing of her bail plea.
At the outset of the hearing, the defence lawyer told the court that Somia pleaded innocence before the joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe the case. It merits mentioning here that the suspect refuted the claims regarding the girl ever working at her home during the investigation. Instead, she stated that she sent Rs60,000 to the girl’s parents solely as financial assistance.
The lawyer also cited police record of the case which stated that Somia did not subject Rizwana to any kind of torture.
Somia handed over the child safe and sound to her parents, he claimed and requested the court to wait till completion of JIT’s inquiry which was expected by this evening.
However, the prosecution opposed the request and prayed to the court to dispose of Somia’s bail.
At this, the court directed both parties to give arguments in favour and against the bail plea. It also directed the investigation officer to acquire the video mentioned by the defence lawyer, which showed Somia accompanying Rizwana to the bus stop to return the girl to her parents.
During the arguments, prosecution maintained that it was neccessary to recover the ‘object’ with which Somia allegedly beat Rizwana to prove the charges. It argued that Somia’s arrest was required to recover that object.
“There is no ground for the bail extension yet. There shouldn’t be any fear in finding the truth,” said judge Fareed before directing the prosecution to collect evidence honestly.
Later, the court ordered Somia’s arrest while disposing of her bail plea.
The suspect started crying in court, with the judge repeatedly telling the officials to escort her out of the court.
This was followed by the Islamabad police arresting Somia from outside court. The woman will now be presented before a duty magistrate for grant of physical remand to interrogate her.
