ISLAMABAD - The women police station Wednesday booked Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Sahiwal Kanwal Bhutto on the charges of criminally intimidating, wrongfully confining and torturing a maid at her house in the area of Bani Gala some days back.
Tayyaba Shaukat, daughter of Shaukat Ali, an underage maid, approached the Bani Gala women police. She stated that she had been working as a housemaid in the house of ADCG Sahiwal Kanwal Bhutto for the last three months. “Some days back, Kanwal beat me up just because her four-year-old daughter Hania Bhutto was weeping. Again on May 30, 2018, Kanwal, her mother and mother-in-law tortured me as I warmed milk for her daughter late. They also cut my body with a fork. They tore off my clothes and confined me for some time,” she alleged. Tayyaba further alleged Kanwal Bhutto did not pay her for three months.
The police booked Kanwal Bhutto, her mother and mother-in-law under sections 506, 342, 34 of the PPC and started investigation.
According to sources, the police didn’t act on the application of Tayyaba soon after the incident, but they had to comply with the court orders for registration of an FIR. No arrest has so far been made, according to the police.
Section 506 deals with criminal intimidation and Section 342 relates to wrongful confinement.
On December 29, 2016, the local police had also recovered another housemaid, Tayyaba, 10, from the house of an Islamabad judge after receiving complaints of torture from neighbours. The issue sparked outrage on social media and led to calls for justice. Subsequently, an FIR was filed against the judge and his wife at I-9 police station. An inquiry report by the police found that the judge’s wife was responsible for torturing the maid. Following the incident, the IHC suspended the judge for criminal negligence.
In April this year, Islamabad High Court announced its verdict in the torture case after more than one year. The court ruled that suspended Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife Maheen Zafar would serve one year each in prison for torturing the child maid under Section 328-A. The two had also been fined Rs 50,000 each for employing an underage child. However, following the verdict, the suspended judge filed a bail plea for himself and his wife which was approved by the same bench.
Meanwhile, Sabzi Mandi police busted a gang involved in looting the people coming from banks after withdrawing money. SSP (Operations) Najeeb-ur-Rehman Bugvi had assigned the task to SP Zubair Ahmed Sheikh to ensure arrest of those involved in looting people at gunpoint. He constituted a team under the supervision of ASP Industrial Area, consisting of Sabzi Mandi SHO and others. The team succeeded in arresting three accused identified as Rizwan, Haq Nawaz and Saleem.
The police recovered cash, gold ornaments and weapons from them.
Islamabad SSP Najeeb-ur-Rehman Bugvi appreciated the performance of the raiding team and directed them to maintain high vigilance in the city.