Raja Khurram Ali Khan, former Additional District & Sessions Judge, Islamabad on Tuesday filed a review petition against Supreme Court judgment in Tayyaba torture case.
The judgment authored by Justice Yahya Afridi on January 10, 2020, had set aside Islamabad High Court (IHC) judgment to enhance sentence from one year to three years to former judge of Islamabad and his spouse, who found guilty of torturing 10-year old minor housemaid Tayyaba.
The review petition said prima facie the legal points were not kept in mind while delivering the judgment. The Court did not examine the facts and evidence thoroughly. It has also ignored the legal and constitutional questions and it was not on merits.
The apex court judgment noted that the former Additional District & Sessions Judge and his wife Maheen Zafar charged for the crimes were persons of authority and social position. It maintained the conviction and sentence of Maheen Zafar for offence punishable under sections 337-A(i) and 337-F(i) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), and the conviction and sentence awarded to Raja Khurram Ali Khan for the offence punishable under section 201 PPC.
The apex court noted that the IHC Division Bench lacked the jurisdiction to enhance the sentence of the convicts under any provision of law. Thus, the enhancement of sentence awarded to the accused-convicts for the offence under Section 328-A PPC by the Division Bench of the High Court in its impugned judgment was without lawful jurisdiction and of no legal effect.
The judgment said that the quantum of sentence for the offence under Section 328-A PPC is the subject matter of another appeal pending before the apex court shall be finally decided therein. The judgment said that the prosecution was able to discharge its "legal" burden convincingly, leading the apex court to the irresistible conclusion that the "neglect", "abandonment", "assault" and "ill-treatment" of Tayyaba Bibi, were at the hands of the accused-convicts Maheen Zafar, and her husband Raja Khurram Ali Khan.
"The failure of the accused-convicts to produce any evidence to discharge their "evidential" burden was obviously a great opportunity missed by them to produce evidence to create dents in the prosecution's case." The stated pieces of prosecution evidence, cumulatively proved beyond doubt the guilt of Maheen Zafar to have inflicted the four injuries (as per Dr. Naseer Injury Report Ex. PW-5) on Tayyaba Bibi, and thereby to have committed the offences punishable under sections 337 A(i) and 337 F(i) of the PPC.
The said evidence also proved beyond doubt the guilt of Maheen Zafar to have "willfully" "assaulted"/"ill-treated" by inflicting four injuries on the victim's person [as per Dr Naseer (PW-5) and Dr. Tariq Iqbal (PW-6, Ex. PW-6)], and on 26.12.2016 "willfully" "neglected"/"abandoned" her in the locked house, without food and warm clothing in the dead of winter, and from 28.12.2016 till 29.12.2016, when her custody was taken by the police, she "willfully" "neglected" to provide Tayyaba Bibi with the much needed medical attention to her injuries, while the victim was in her direct care, and thereby also committed the offence punishable under section 328-A of the PPC.
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