Islamabad (May 30, 2017): The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday has ordered that until the court delivers its judgement, the ten-year-old Tayyaba must continue to reside at the SOS Children’s Village in Islamabad, where she has been housed since March.
The case concerns ten-year-old Tayyaba, who was recovered from the house of former Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Raja Khurram Ali Khan, where she had allegedly been employed illegally as a housemaid. She was also allegedly tortured by Khan and his wife, Maheen Zafar, before she was rescued.
In an earlier SC hearing held in March, the court offered custody of Tayyaba to be given to the SOS Children’s Village in Islamabad for a period of two months.
Tayyaba, who was allegedly tortured by Khurram’s family, was rescued from his house in Islamabad with visible wounds on Dec 28, 2016. A First Information Report was registered against him and his wife, Maheen Zafar, on Dec 29, 2016.
On Jan 2, 2017, the ADSJ had reached a ‘compromise’ with Tayyaba’s parents, on the basis of which Maheen Zafar secured pre-arrest bail from the court of ADSJ Raja Asif Mehmood the same day. On Jan 3, ADSJ Atta Rabbani had handed over custody of Tayyaba to her parents.
On Jan 4, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the matter.
The court directed police to investigate the case from every aspect, and on a subsequent hearing on Jan 11, observed that the role of Chakwal-based lawyer Raja Zahoor Hassan — who began a practice in Islamabad a couple of years ago — was of key interest with regard to the “illegitimate” compromise first reached between the suspects and the child’s family.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar had remarked during proceedings that there was no doubt that a criminal act had been committed in the Tayyaba case.
The court had also directed the police to investigate how the compromise deed was prepared, as well as matters related to internal trafficking of child labour.
In its report, however, the police had focused only on the child’s abuse and the possible involvement of the suspects. On Jan 26, the SC had expressed displeasure with the way the police investigated the case.
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