SHC directs special police team to recover missing children

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the special team constituted for the recovery of 20 children reportedly missing from the city to make efforts to trace them and recover them at the earliest.

Hearing a petition for the recovery of missing children, the court directed the police to use modern techniques to ensure that the kids are recovered. The court had earlier directed the Sindh police chief to form a committee headed by DIG-level officer to work on recovering the missing children.

The provincial law officer submitted that the IGP had formed a team comprising CIA DIG Mohammad Amin Yousufzai and three SSPs. Filing a progress report, CIA DIG Yousafzai submitted that efforts were made to find the remaining missing children and out of 23, three children have been recovered and returned to their homes.

He said that eight women police stations have been re-designated as children and women police stations and the concerned SSPs have been directed to establish child protection desks in their respective districts to provide urgent response and find the missing children.

He submitted that instructions have been issued to all SHOs for registration of cases with regard to missing children, while a child protection and response centre has been established to focus on the missing children’s cases and facilitate their parents.

The SHC division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto directed the head of the special team to make all-out efforts to recover the missing children by using modern techniques. The court also directed the concerned SHO and SSP to look into the matter of Saima, who reportedly disappeared two years ago.

The petitioner Roshni Helpline Trust had moved the court asking it to issue directives to the police that missing children’s cases be considered as a cognisable offence and investigation should be initiated without any delay.

The counsel for the petitioner had submitted that the whereabouts of 24 children were still untraceable and requested the court to direct the police to recover them. The petitioner said the cases of missing children were not properly investigated and as a result many children had lost their lives.

Missing from CHK

The SHC also took exception to the non-functional closed circuit TV cameras in the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and directed the health secretary, the hospital’s medical superintendent and SSP South to appear before the court in the case of a child’s disappearance from CHK.

At a previous hearing, the court had directed the investigation officer to examine the CCTV footage from Civil Hospital and make efforts to recover a three-year-old boy who went missing from there on May 28, 2018.

The petitioner Saba submitted that her son Noman went missing from the hospital’s OPD and his whereabouts are still unknown. The CHK MS submitted in his report that the CCTV cameras of the OPD ward was not functional. The court observed that it is a very serious matter that a three-year-old boy had gone missing and the hospital did not have functional CCTV cameras. The SHC directed the health secretary, CHK MS and SSP South to appear and explain their position on October 18.