CCTV footage shows torture victim ‘in bad shape’

ISLAMABAD: The CCTV footage of the 14-year-old torture victim that came to the fore on Tuesday showed her in bad shape, shattering all the claims made by defence lawyers in the house help abuse case, Geo News reported.

Several bits of the CCTV footage showed Rizwana — the teenage girl who was brutally tortured by Civil Judge Asim Hafeez’s wife Somia Asim while being employed as a domestic help at their home — limping on the bus stop where she was handed over to her parents by the suspect.

The harrowing case of violence against children surfaced last month when the seriously injured girl was shifted to a hospital in Lahore, with her parents alleging that her employer Somia had inflicted severe torture on the child.

A case was registered on the parents’ behalf on the very next day, but the prime suspect was arrested after a long wait, when a local court in Islamabad finally cancelled her bail on August 7.

The judge and his wife deny all the allegations, claiming that Somia had never beaten Rizwana and that all injuries she has are due to a skin infection caused by eating “dirt”.

The lawyer representing Somia in the court contended that the CCTV video of the bus stop was evidence that Rizwana returned to her parents fit and fine.

However, the video showed the opposite as the girl was seen struggling to get out of a car that came to drop her at the bus stop. She was then seen walking with difficulty after she stepped out of the car.

Another bit of the CCTV footage showed two men carrying the girl into the bus as she couldn’t walk on her own.