Sexual assault case: SHC grants protective bail to suspended civil judge

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday granted protective bail to suspended civil judge and judicial magistrate Sehwan, Imtiaz Hussain Bhutto, in an alleged sexual assault case.

Imtiaz Hussain Bhutto had approached the SHC seeking protective bail following registration of an FIR by a woman alleging molestation by the judicial officer in his chamber when she went there to record her statement in a free-will marriage case on January 13. The police had registered the case against the judicial officer under sections 506 and 376 PPC at the Sehwan town police station.

The complainant Salma Brohi alleged that she had married Nisar at her free will and came to live in Sehwan. However, the police arrested them and produced them before the civil judge for recording her statement. Afterwards, Brohi alleged that the judicial magistrate sexually assaulted her in his chamber and threatened not to disclose the incident.

The defence counsel Shahid Soomro submitted that the applicant was innocent and was falsely implicated in the case by the police. He submitted that the defendant was willing to surrender before the trial court to face the trial proceedings but apprehends his arrest. He requested the court to grant protective bail to the applicant so that he could surrender before the trial court. The SHC’s single bench, headed by Justice Mrs. Rashida Asad, granted protective bail to the suspended civil judge while setting the surety sum at Rs 100,000 and directed him to surrender to the trial court before February 20.

The Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh had suspended the civil judge and judicial magistrate Sehwan Imtiaz Hussain Bhutto on the ground of “misconduct” on January 19.