LHC grants bail to judge's wife in domestic help abuse case

• Court approves request till Aug 1.
• LHC judge also orders against Soumia's arrest.
• Victims sustains 15 serious wounds: medical report.

LAHORE: Soumia Asim, the wife of a civil judge who allegedly tortured her teenage domestic help, was granted protective bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday.

After the hearing of  Asim’s anticipatory bail plea, Justice Farooq Haider approved her request till August 1 and also ordered authorities to stop her arrest as well.

Earlier this week, a case was registered against the wife of Civil Judge Asim Hafeez for purportedly subjecting her domestic help — a 14-year-old girl — to severe torture, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police said.

The harrowing case of the teenager being brutally beaten up came to light when the victim was shifted to a hospital in Lahore with serious injuries, with the family accusing the judge's wife, Somia, of torturing their child.

The case was registered at Police Station Humak on behalf of the girl's father, Manga Khan, under Section 506 (committing offence of criminal intimidation) and Section 342 (wrongfully confining a person) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

After being booked, Asim expressed her willingness to cooperate with the investigation into the allegations against her. Meanwhile, the medical report of the victim revealed 15 serious wounds all over her body, particularly the head and face.

"She was denied treatment for seven months which worsened her wounds," the preliminary medical report said.

The victim was later shifted to Lahore from Sargodha for proper treatment, but there too, the doctors were not so hopeful. 

The federal capital police have failed to round up the judge for investigation. The police conducted raids for the wife at possible hideouts in Lahore and Gujranwala but failed to get her.

The case

As per the text of the First Information Report (FIR), the complainant had sent his 14-year-old daughter to work as a domestic help on Rs10,000 monthly salary, with the reference of an acquaintance named Chaudhry Mukhtar, seven months ago.

The girl's parents found out about her being subjected to torture at the judge's house on Monday (July 23) when they went to meet her.

It may be noted that the victim's parents have said that they hadn't met her during these seven months but talked to her on the phone sometimes.

"When we [complainant, his wife and her brother] entered the gate, we heard my daughter crying. Hearing that made me concerned so we went towards the room and found my daughter in wounded condition [...]," the complainant stated in the FIR.

He alleged that his daughter was subjected to severe torture by the judge’s wife, and there were torture marks all over the child’s body.

Upon examining her condition, the parents found several injuries on the girl's entire body, with serious wounds on the head, which were "infested with maggots".

The major injuries described by the complainant include swelling on lips and eyes, broken teeth, and ribs and strangling marks on the neck.

As per the FIR, the complainant has accused Somia of torturing and keeping his daughter in illegal custody since the day she started working at the judge's house and sought action on the matter.