A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Monday rejected the bail plea of Somia Asim — the wife of a civil judge — in a case about the alleged torture of an underage domestic help in the capital and ordered police to arrest her.
The suspect was subsequently taken into custody by the capital police from the court’s premises.
Somia 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 eyebrow, swollen upper lips, laceration under the upper lip on the right side, broken left incisor and left canine, laceration on check, nose bleed, laceration on left side of vertex, multiple bruises on lower leg, fracture on right forearm, swollen left and right eyelids, bruise on right skull, laceration on back, multiple bruises on back and attempt on strangulation.”
After showing reluctance, Islamabad police registered a first information report in the case on July 26. 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 murder — were later added to the FIR.
On July 28, the Lahore High Court (LHC) granted protective bail to the judge’s wife till August 1. Last week, a district and sessions court in Islamabad granted the suspect pre-arrest bail until August 7 (today).
