Domestic help torture case: Bail plea of civil judge's wife rejected

• If her wounds were infected by bugs at home then where did they go at the bus station, Somia Asim's lawyer asks.
• Judicial magistrate Shaista Kundi asserts justice will prevail in her court.
  
• Judge Kundi, lawyer Qazi Dastgir exchange harsh words after verdict's announcement.

An additional district and sessions court Thursday rejected the bail plea of judge Asim Hafeez's wife, Somia Asim, in a case pertaining to the alleged torture of a teenage house help in the federal capital.

The harrowing case of brutal treatment of the child surfaced late last month when her parents shifted her to a hospital in Lahore with serious injuries, alleging the judge's wife had inflicted severe torture on the girl, Rizwana.

During the proceeding today, Somia was produced before judge Shaista Kundi’s court wherein her lawyer Qazi Dastgir informed the court the date of the incident was not mentioned in the first information report (FIR).

“According to a CCTV footage, the girl was handed over to her mother by my client,” Dastgir said adding that some videos showed that the girl sat on a bench at a bus station and laid down like a healthy person.

He further argued that a story had been concocted against his client Somia.

“If her wounds were infected by bugs at home then where did they go at the bus station,” he said.

On the judge's inquiry, the video of the bus station was played in the courtroom. The judge asked the girl’s mother to tell the truth about what had happened at the bus station.

To this, the mother said that the judge’s wife had complained that the Rizwana was not working and had asked to take her back.

“I asked her (Rizwana) why doesn’t she work, to which she did not respond,” the mother said.

The lawyer maintained Somia did not subject Rizwana to any kind of torture and handed her over safe and sound to her parents.

Judge Kundi asserted she would bring everything on record and that only justice would prevail in this court.

Dastagir prayed that the girl was not employed by his client. On this, the judge said that two days ago Somia said that she had paid money to the girl.

After the reserved verdict was announced, judge Kundi and Somia’s lawyer, exchanged harsh words.

On August 7, in a relief to the parents of the 14-year-old torture victim, the civil judge's wife was arrested after the court cancelled her bail in the case.

Civil Judge Asim Hafeez's wife, Somia Asim, had acquired interim bail to avoid arrest on the allegations of beating and torturing the minor girl employed as domestic help at their house.