The court rejected the bail plea of Soumya Asim, wife of a civil judge, in the 13-year-old domestic violence case.
A district and sessions court in Islamabad denied post-arrest bail to Soumya Asim, wife of a civil judge, in a case of assault on 13-year-old maid Rizwana.
During the hearing of the bail application in the court of Judicial Magistrate Shaista Kundi, defense lawyer Qazi Dastgir and plaintiff lawyer Faisal Jatt appeared in the court, prosecutor Waqas and the parents of the victim girl were also present in the court room.
On behalf of the plaintiff, new lawyer Faisal Jatt submitted the documents in the court; he addressed the court and said that he needed some time to prepare arguments on the bail application.
However, Judge Shaista Kundi rejected the plea and said that no, there is no need of the hour, arguments have to be made today, meanwhile, she directed to argue on the bail application.
During the hearing, CCTV footage of the private bus stand was shown in the courtroom; the prosecution said that the two-and-a-half minute video has been sent for forensics.
Qazi Dastgir further said that the girl met her mother after seven months, but the mother did not even check the child. Judge Shaista Kundi remarked that who checks immediately, first the child is taken.
The judge asked the girl’s mother, “Does your child wear a scarf?” The girl’s mother replied, “No, my daughter does not wear a scarf, the purpose of hiding the face was to hide the wound.”
The judge asked the girl’s mother, “What happened in the car, did you sit in the car for 10 minutes?”
In response, the girl’s mother said that yes she had sat in there and talked about her work performance. She said that it was told “child does not work, I asked the girl why she does not work, but she remained silent, the driver also threatened that we are powerful people, after that I was scared.”
Judge Shaista Kundi inquired whether the girl was admitted to any school. In response, the defense lawyer said that the girl has become older, she is 16 years old, and therefore was not admitted in the school. He said that a Qari sahib used to come and teach the Quran in the house.
“Are there any documents that the girl was given financial aid,” the judge questioned. Defense lawyer Qazi Dastgir said that he did not have any documents; this is an ideal case of welfare work.
Judge Shaista Kundi, while repeating the arguments of Qazi Dastgir, said that the defense lawyer is saying that there is an ideal case of welfare work, you are repeatedly talking verbally, why did you send Rs50 thousand? In response, Qazi Dastgir said that it is clear that Soumya Asim was blackmailed.
Judge Shaista Kundi inquired how a judge was blackmailed; Qazi Dastgir replied that even the judge is not able to do justice.
Prosecutor Waqas, while initiating the arguments, said that defense lawyer Qazi Dastgir has done all the verbal things, made assumptions, the incident is not of one day, there have been incidents based on a series, the girl was in the house of the civil judge and it was accepted.
Judge Shaista Kundi remarked that there was a child in the house of the civil judge but the injuries have not yet been considered, prosecutor said that we also know the condition of government hospitals in Sargodha.
Meanwhile, after the completion of arguments of the parties, the court reserved the verdict on the bail application of Soumya Asim after the completion of the arguments.
Magistrate Shaista Kundi rejected the bail plea of Soumya Asim at 2 pm.
