Islamabad: An Islamabad district and sessions court denied bail to accused Somia Asim, the wife of a civil judge, and ordered her detention in a case of allegedly torturing an underage domestic worker.
Somia Asim Case:
The accused appeared with her lawyer before Additional District and Sessions Judge Farrukh Fareed on Monday to request an extension of her interim bail. The Lahore High Court (LHC) had previously given him bail, which was extended to August 7.
The accused was arrested and taken to the Women’s Police Station following the hearing. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday and is anticipated to be remanded.
During the hearing, the accused’s lawyers questioned the timeline of the events and stated that their clients were not responsible for the violence. He speculated that the girl’s parents were to blame.
The girl’s mother was also in the courtroom and broke down multiple times. When the bail application was denied, the accused began to cry.
The story grabbed national headlines in the last week of July when images of the fourteen-year-old girl went viral. The girl’s parents claimed she raped the judge’s wife Somia Asim after the event revealed she worked at the civil judge’s residence.
The Hearing
The courtroom was packed when the hearing began at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. Following the presentation of the case record, counsel for the accused requested that the hearing be adjourned; the hearing was resumed after 10 a.m.
When the hearing resumed following the interruption, the judge summoned the accused, Somia Asim, to the rostrum.
His attorney argued in court that the police did not document the defense’s evidence. “We have video evidence that the girl was fine,” he said, adding that the accused had repeatedly requested the victim’s relatives to “come and take her back.”
The judge stated that the lawyers can present any evidence they want in the probe. The court asked the police whether the accused’s statement was written on the record, and the written notice of the accused was presented in court.
Asim’s attorney also stated that there was a media trial’ before the matter was heard.
According to the defendant’s counsel, the girl’s medical was performed on July 24, and the FIR was filed on July 25. He stated that the medical process is selected following the FIR.
The defense further claimed that the accused came before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and professed her innocence in exchange for her bail being extended pending the JIT’s findings. The judge rejected it.
Following the defense counsel’s conclusion, the prosecution began his arguments, telling the court that “the defense thinks that they were not made part of the investigation, even though they stated that their statement was recorded.”
The prosecutor also objected to the videos mentioned earlier by the accused’s lawyer. He said that everything was made up. He begged the court not to be lenient because of the accused’s gender, adding that “all criminals will say we should have women commit crimes so that we can get bail easier.”
The prosecution further stated that the plaintiff’s lawyer did not object to the medico-legal report.
After hearing all of the arguments, the court ruled in favor of the prosecution, ordering the accused to be arrested and cooperating in the investigation.
