[DAWN] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday accepted an appeal filed by the state to increase the prison sentence imposed on a former additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) and his wife for torturing a minor domestic employee.
A two-member division bench consisting of Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb also dismissed an appeal filed by former ADSJ Raja Khurram Ali Khan and Maheen Zafar, and increased their sentences from one year to three years in prison, with a fine of Rs500,000.
Khan and Zafar were also convicted under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) of the Pakistain Penal Code and sentenced to six months in prison.
Zafar was also convicted under PPC sections 337-A(i) and 337-F(i) and ordered to pay the victim, Taiba, Rs500,000.
Following the judgement, Khan was taken into custody and shifted to jail. The sentences will run concurrently.
"There can be no compensation in monetary terms for the anguish suffered by the victim, an innocent, helpless and vulnerable child, but we feel that an amount of Rs. 500,000 ... may be a reasonable symbolic payment as ’daman’ to Taiba Bibi as compensation for the agony which she had to suffer," the judgment reads.
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