Sessions court rejects police plea for physical remand of suspect in maid case
Pakistan
Sessions court rejects physical remand request of suspect in maid torture case
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The sessions court on Tuesday rejected the request for physical remand of Soumya Asim, the wife of a civil judge, accused of torturing domestic worker Rizwana.
District and Sessions Judge Shaista Khan Kundi heard the case and Soumya Asim was produced in court.
Police requested physical remand of the suspect for further investigation and recoveries. However, the court said the physical remand could be granted in two types of cases - one of which is section 324 (attempt to kill).
The plaintiff’s lawyer said the court was supposed to give a verdict according to law.
The prosecution said the video had to be examined and the receipts of the salary payments to the maid had to be recovered by police.
However, the court said the video could be recovered without the presence of the suspect and remand could not be granted just to create media hype.
“I was forced to stay with the JIT until 11:30pm”, Soumya said, adding that she was ready to cooperate in every way. She said she was a mother of three children and needed relief.
The court chided police while asking the suspect whether she was in the women's police station. The suspect replied that police took her to a house on Monday and collected evidence from there.
Her counsel said the investigation had been completed and most of the evidence collected. Consequently, the court said after that statement there was no need for any remand.
The judicial magistrate, pronouncing the verdict, rejected the prosecution’s request for physical remand and sent the suspect to jail on judicial remand.
The court directed police to produce her on Aug 22.
