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| India-Pakistan |
| Doctor testifies in Tayyaba case |
| 2017-06-22 |
| [DAWN] Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Aamer Farooq on Tuesday recorded the statement of a doctor in the Taiba case. A doctor testified that 10-year-old domestic worker Taiba, who was allegedly tortured by an additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) and his wife, was brought to a hospital severely and visibly injured. The witness, a doctor who was on the panel that conducted a medical examination of the alleged victim, said an initial medical examination of the child was conducted and the child had injuries on her hand and face. The other doctors on the panel could not appear before the court because one has retired and the other is attending a training course. Subsequently, the court issued them notices for July 4 directing them to ensure attendance. The court had previously issued notices to the panel of doctors who examined the alleged victim. Justice Farooq, while issuing a notice to the witnesses for June 20, has said that the court would continue the trial from the point where another IHC court had recused itself from hearing the case further. ADSJ Raja Khurram and his wife Maheen Zafar have been charged with assaulting, confining, mistreating, neglecting, abandoning, harming and injuring the child maid. The couple pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." after they were indicted and are currently standing trial. In January, a member of the Pakistain Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) medical board had said it was possible that the child was a victim of torture and abuse. "The minor received multiple burns and other injuries to her back, face, legs and abdomen," Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Javed Akram had said, adding: "However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... it is for the police to decide whether these injuries were the result of torture or not." Dr Akram was on the medical board constituted on Jan 6 to re-examine the child at the request of a district magistrate. An earlier medico-legal report from Pims had also confirmed the injuries sustained by the child. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... the initial examination had ignored burns on the child’s back caused by an iron rod or ladle. The child was allegedly employed by the suspects as a domestic worker, and they have been accused of keeping her in wrongful confinement, burning her hand, beating her with a ladle, detaining her in a storeroom and threatening her. |
| Posted by:Fred |