SHC tells police to make all-out efforts to recover 11 missing children

Police have recovered eight out of 19 children who disappeared from different parts of the city, a senior police officer told the Sindh High Court on Thursday, submitting that police would make every effort to find remaining children.

Filing a progress report with the court that had earlier ordered the registration of FIRs against the disappearance of 19 children from different parts of the city, the police officer submitted that efforts were made for finding the remaining missing children.

He said police had also recovered a girl, Shabana, and reunited her with her parents. At a previous hearing, the court had directed the police to register cases and told the inspector general of police to appoint a senior police officer to investigate.

The direction had come at after the filing of a petition by non- governmental organisation, Roshni Helpline Trust, which asked the court to issue a directive to the

police to consider the missing children’s cases as a cognizable offence and investigate the matter without any delay.

The petitioner said cases of missing children were not properly investigated, and as a result many children had lost their lives.

It said the organisation had collected data regarding missing children, and that showed that over 5,000 to 6,000 children went missing every year, but due to deliberate negligence on the part of the police, many children could not be traced and were left at the mercy of the kidnappers.

According to the petition, police used to register complaints in daily dairies of police stations instead of registering FIRs, and if a proper FIR is registered and matter investigated on time, many children could be recovered and their lives saved.

The petitioner’s counsel also submitted a list of children who went missing from different areas of Karachi, but the SHOs of those areas refused to register cases. He requested the Sindh High Court to direct the police to register cases of missing children. According to the petitioner, missing children of 4 to 16 years old had been reported to his organisation after they disappeared from

Shah Faisal Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Mehmoodabad, Sher Shah, Awami Colony, Jackson, Taimoria, Saddar, Korangi Industrial Area and Ferozabad during the last one and half years.

According to the police report, missing children Abraham, Mehak, Muslim Jan, Rabia, Adnan, Noor Fatima, Sabiha and Abdullah were recovered and returned to their parents. He submitted that cases of missing children Sohail Khan, Sania Mansoor, Maaz Khan, Irfan, Saima, Kashif, Husnain, Munaza, Pooja, Gulsher Sadiq and Gulhuda had been registered and investigations were under way.

A division bench headed by Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar directed the senior superintendent of police concerned to make all-out efforts for recovery of the missing children, including six-year-old Mursaleen, and submit a progress report on May 10. The court also directed federal and provincial law officers to file their progress reports on petitions against the detention of citizens allegedly by personnel of law enforcement agencies.