ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the Trial Court to stop hearing the Tayyaba torture case and referred the matter to Islamabad High Court (IHC) to determine the case within 15 days.
The main accused in the case Sessions Court Judge Raja Khurram Ali could be a colleague of the magistrate hearing the case in the Trial Court, the bench observed.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the suo moto notice case.
During the proceeding of the case, Asma Jehangir lawyer for Tayyaba – the maid – said the challan of the case did not include charges of slavery and human trafficking.
Responding to a question by the chief justice in that regard, she said the high court could intervene to include those charges in the challan.
Asma Jahangir said the statement of Tayyaba’s father presented before the IHC was different from the one he had earlier submitted to the apex court. She said it shows that no one in society, including the child’s parents, was ready to speak up against injustice.
The chief justice remarked that it was the court’s responsibility to ensure that justice was done.
He said had the child’s father not come forward, the Supreme Court would have taken over the parental responsibility and decided the child’s future. He ordered that the child should be kept at an Save Our Soul (SOS) village till the time the IHC reviews its case and decides on a future course of action.
The hearing of the case was adjourned till March 21. APP