ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights while expressing grave concern over the alleged torture on teenage housemaid Rizwana by the wife of a civil judge urged the Ministry of Law and Justice to immediately initiate the process for removal of the said civil judge from service.

The 26th meeting of the Standing Committee on Human Rights was held on Thursday here at the Parliament House under the Chairpersonship of Dr Mehreen Razzaq Bhutto.

The committee was briefly apprised by the Chairperson of the National Commission on the Rights of Children (NCRC), about the unfortunate incident that occurred with an innocent girl namely, Rizwana, who was a maid in the house of a civil judge.

She further informed the committee that the incident happened on 24th July 2023, and was reported in media after two days. Initially, the FIR was very weak, however, on the basis of a medico-legal report, some more sections were added to the FIR to further strengthen the case.

The DIG, ICT Police, also endorsed the statement of the chairperson NCRC.

The chairperson of the Standing Committee; while referring the Articles No 3, 11, 23, 25-A, 35 and 37 (a) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, held that the unfortunate incident was a clear-cut violation of the human rights therefore there was a need to give maximum punishment to the responsible(s).

She urged the Ministry of Law and Justice to play their role as per the Judicial Code of Conduct, take all possible measures for the punitive action(s) against the civil judge and submit report to the committee. The committee, however, directed the DIG,

ICT Police, to undertake an impartial inquiry; ignoring all sorts of pressures, finalize the report and submit to the committee at the earliest possible. The committee further directed the Ministry of Human Rights to give their input on the draft policy; prepared by Child Rights Commission, and submit the same to the committee in the next meeting to be held on 7th August 2023.

The committee also expressed displeasure over the non-attendance of the meeting by the secretary Ministry of Law and Justice and held that such a non-serious and unprofessional attitude exhibited by the secretary law was tantamount to a breach of the privileges of the committee as well as the Parliament and unanimously, decided that such a practice will not be tolerated in future.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023