Pakistan SC orders police probe into child maid's torture by district judge

Islamabad: Pakistan's Chief Justice on Friday ordered police probe into the alleged torture of a 10-year-old girl working as a maid for an influential district judge.

Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday took suo motu notice of the alleged torture of the maid by a judge and his wife in Islamabad after disturbing photos of her appeared on social media last week, showing her badly beaten and bruised.

He ordered Deputy Inspector General police today to probe the case and present the victim during the hearing next week, according to a court official.

He also ordered the court would act as parents of the girl in the case and rejected the pardon given by the victim's father to Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife.

During today's hearing, two women appeared claiming to be mothers of the victim, following which the Supreme Court ordered DNA test to ascertain the parentage.

The case took another twist on Tuesday after father of the girl told a local court that there was no truth of torture and that he reached at a private settlement with the judge.

In the First Information Report registered with Islamabad police, the girl said she had been working at the Khan's house for nearly two years.

Initially, the girl told police that she was often beaten up in the house. Most recently, she alleged that 'Mano Baji', judge's wife, shoved her hands onto a burning stove and then beat her after a broom went missing.

She also claimed the owners of the house would usually lock her up in a storeroom at night besides starving and beating her up.