An Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday rejected the post-arrest bail plea filed by Somia Asim, the wife of a civil judge, in a case pertaining to the alleged torture of an underage domestic worker in the capital.
The suspect was booked in the case after she was accused of severely torturing a teenage maid, who was moved to the Lahore General Hospital in critical condition on July 24.
According to the girl’s medico-legal certificate (MLC), she had “laceration on the head from the vertex, on the forehead, right side above the eyebrow, swollen upper lips, laceration under the upper lip on the right side, broken left incisor and left canine, a laceration on cheek, nose bleed, a laceration on the left side of vertex, multiple bruises on the lower leg, fracture on right forearm, swollen left and right eyelids, bruise on the right skull, a laceration on back, multiple bruises on back and attempt on strangulation”.
After showing reluctance, Islamabad police had registered a first information report (FIR) in the case on July 26 at the Humak police station in response to the complaint from the girl’s father, a labourer by profession.
Initially, the police booked the judge’s wife for criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement, without mentioning physical torture in the FIR. However, eight more sections — including attempted murder — were later added to the FIR.
Somia was arrested in the case on August 7 after an Islamabad district and sessions court rejected her pre-arrest bail application.
The suspect had then approached a local court in Islamabad via her lawyer and applied for post-arrest bail till the case’s final decision. The petition said the allegations against her in the FIR were “baseless, concocted and result of exaggerations”.
It maintained that Somia was “innocent” and never caused any of the alleged injuries, adding that she had always treated the maid well. It also alleged irregularities in the case investigation so far.
Today, Judicial Magistrate Shaista Kundi presided over the suspect’s post-arrest bail plea, wherein Somia had said the allegations against her were “baseless, concocted and [the] result of exaggerations”.
Lawyer Qazi Dastageer appeared as the counsel for the judge’s wife while Faisal Jutt was present as the victim’s counsel. Prosecutor Muhammad Waqas and the parents of the teenage girl were also present during the hearing.
After hearing the arguments of both lawyers and the prosecutor, Judge Kundi reserved the verdict, which she announced later.
