Want to be a police officer when I grow up, says torture victim Tayyaba

ISLAMABAD: Child maid Tayyaba who was subjected to gruesome torture by her employers now vows to join the police force when she grows up.

“I will hit those who hit me,” said Tayyaba.

The Supreme Court earlier this week decided that Tayyaba will stay at Pakistan Sweet Homes, an orphanage, till her parents are identified.

The little girl could be seen in a clean pair of clothes, a red hairband holding her hair back-- a stark contrast from the rags she wore when she was first recovered. The wounds on her eye and lip had visibly healed, but a white bandage tightly wrapped her hand.

Her employer, additional session judge Islamabad Raja Khurram Ali Khan, will undergo another inquiry, sources informed Geo News on Friday.

The inquiry will be headed by a high court judge, the sources added.

Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) and other judges barred Raja Khurram Ali Khan from judicial duties, according to a notification on Thursday.

Khurram has been directed to serve as an OSD immediately in IHC, according to the notification.

Prior to this, Registrar IHC had also carried out an inquiry against the additional session judge.

Tayyaba’s case caught the media's attention after she was recovered from the residence of Additional Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan, early this month.

According to a medical report, 22 torture marks were found on Tayyaba’s body, including marks from bruises and burns. A wound measuring one square centimetre was also found next to her right eye. The report also stated that the 10-year-old Tayyaba suffers from mental stress but her condition is improving gradually.

The minor girl, whose face and hands bore torture marks, had initially denied being hurt by her employers. She told the police that she got a wound to her eye after falling from the stairs, while her hand was also burnt accidentally.

However, the poor girl narrated her ordeal after being politely inquired by a female magistrate later. She stated before the magistrate that she was beaten and her hand was burnt on the stove for losing the broom.

Things took a turn, the matter was settled out of court last week and, according to the child’s father, the parents had forgiven the actions in the way of the Almighty.

The Chief Justice took suo moto notice of the case, however, the child and her father mysteriously disappeared then.

After the Supreme Court ordered that the child be produced in court, police sprung into action. Tayyaba was recovered from the suburbs of Islamabad on Sunday.