Rawalpindi - A magistrate’s court on Monday granted Banni police four more days of physical custody of a couple accused of torturing and killing a 13-year-old housemaid.
Magistrate Muhammad Imran Qureshi approved the police’s request and handed over Mian Rashid Shafique and his wife, Sana Shafique, for further investigation. The police informed the court that the investigation was incomplete and that the murder weapon was yet to be recovered.
The couple were arrested on February 13 for allegedly torturing their housemaid, Iqra, after she consumed a chocolate meant for one of their children. The girl was taken to Holy Family Hospital in critical condition but later succumbed to her injuries.
Banni police have booked the couple under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code for murder, cruelty to a child, causing hurt, illegal confinement, concealing evidence, and under the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004. According to the FIR, Iqra’s father, Sanaullah, a resident of Mandi Bahauddin, stated that his daughter had been working at the couple’s house for nearly two years for a monthly wage of Rs8,000.
Sanaullah claimed that he last met Iqra three months ago and that she had informed him over the phone about the regular torture she endured.
He said he could not travel to Rawalpindi due to financial constraints. On February 11, he was informed that his daughter had been severely tortured and taken to the hospital in critical condition. He alleged that the couple kept her in illegal custody and denied her medical treatment.
Meanwhile, an additional district and sessions judge will hear the post-arrest bail petition of Robina Naveed, a resident of Saidpur, Rawalpindi, today (Tuesday). She was arrested for taking the wounded Iqra to Benazir Bhutto Hospital.
Advocate Chaudhry Hassan Ali, representing Robina, argued that the police had not assigned her any specific role in the crime.
He stated that she had been sent to Adiala Jail on judicial remand and that the police had no further investigation to conduct regarding her involvement in Iqra’s death.
