The civil judge and his wife accused of perpetrating extreme kind of torture on their 14-year-old maid have gone into hiding. Police raided Civil Judge Asim Hafeez and his wife Somia’s houses in Islamabad and Gujranwala but failed to find their whereabouts. The law enforcers also contacted the complaints (the victim girl’s parents) in the case. Sources said that the police would expand their scope of investigation after recording the victim girl’s statement who she is still in hospital. They will approach her after her condition is out of danger. Poor maid Rizwana is still lying half-dead at Lahore General Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

A 12-member medical board has been formed to look into Rizwana’s condition. She underwent a major procedure in the hospital. A CT scan of her head was conducted and through a minor surgery, the wounds on her head were cleaned. According to doctors, two operations on her fractured arms will be performed. The aggrieved father who sent his daughter to the house of the judge at Zartaj Housing Society through an acquaintance against Rs10,000 per month salary told the media that the civil judge’s wife broke the arms and legs of his daughter. He appealed to the higher authorities to take stern action against the accused.

According to the FIR registered against the accused at Humak police station in Islamabad, the civil judge’s wife Somia tried to strangulate Rizwana and the marks of strangulation were found on the poor girl’s neck. The girl’s grandmother alleged that Rizwana’s employer also put acid in her mouth. She said when Rizwana’s mother went to Rawalpindi to take her daughter, Somia threw the girl near her and fled away.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)