SHC orders police to register cases of missing children

The Sindh High Court has directed the police to register cases against the disappearance of children who have gone missing from different areas of the city.

The orders were issued on Thursday while the court heard a petition filed by non-governmental organisation Roshni Helpline Trust, which sought SHC’s directives to the police to consider missing children cases as a cognisable offence and investigate them without delay.

In its petition, the NGO submitted that cases of children who go missing are not investigated properly and as a result of this negligence many children have lost their lives. The petition added that Roshni Helpline Trust had collected data which showed that 5,000 to 6,000 children go missing every year but because of police negligence in carrying out prompt investigations, the whereabouts of these children are never found out and they are left at the mercy of kidnappers.

According to the petition, police only registers complaints about missing children based on the police stations’ daily diaries instead of registering an FIR. “If a proper FIR is registered and the matter is investigated on time, many children could be recovered and their lives could be saved,” the petition added.

The petitioner’s lawyer also submitted a list of missing children who had been reported to Roshni Helpline during the past year and a half. The children range between the ages of four to 16 who disappeared from Shah Faisal Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Mehmoodabad, Sher Shah, Awami Colony, Jackson, Taimooria, Saddar, Korangi Industrial area and Ferozabad.  

The lawyer stated that the SHOs of the relevant police stations had refused to register cases on the parents’ complaints and requested the court to direct the police to register the FIRs.  The SHC division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto directed SHOs of the police stations to record a statement of the petitioner and to act strictly in accordance with the law.  

The court observed that since the matter has been pending since 2012, the Sindh police chief may depute a responsible officer, not below the rank of SP, to assist the court in the matter and adjourned the hearing till November 28.

Illegal detention

Separately, while hearing petitions against the detention of citizens allegedly by the personnel of law-enforcement agencies, the court directed the provincial law officer to constitute fresh joint investigation teams to recover the missing persons.

The court also directed the officer investigating the disappearance of Pasban leader Usman Moazzam’s son, Saad Siddiqui, to record a statement of Moazzam’s another son who was incarcerated in prison.

The petitioner’s counsel Mohammad Farooq submitted that Moazzam had filed a petition against the alleged detention of his son by LEAs from Samanabad on June 11, 2015.  He added that the petitioner’s other son Mohammad Siddiqui who was in prison in a criminal case, was aware of his brother’s whereabouts and should be questioned.

The court directed the investigation officer to record the statement of under-trial prisoner and submit it on December 12. The court also directed the home department to constitute a joint investigation team and refer the matter to the provincial task force.

  Bail dismissed

The SHC also dismissed the bail application of an accused involved in a heroin smuggling case.  Applicant Imran Baig was arrested along with contractual staff of the national flag carrier for their alleged involvement in smuggling of 20 kilogrammes of heroin powder through a PIA flight to the UK in May 2017. His counsel had sought bail stating that his client was falsely implicated in the case. 

The special prosecutor opposed the bail application stating that the applicant was a member of the narcotics mafia who used to transport drugs into the airport as a member of the maintenance staff.  The court after hearing the arguments of the counsels dismissed Baig’s bail application.