Seminary disappearance: Police admonished in abducted girl case

Court asks police to produce seminary head in court.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Friday admonished the Gujrat district police officer (DPO) over his failure to produce an abducted seminary student and ordered him to bring the seminary head before the court on next hearing.

The police have exonerated the seminary head, Qazi Ameer, while the parents of the girl claim that he has abducted their daughter.

Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi took strong notice of the police’s failure and said that if the police had fulfilled its responsibility the girl could have been recovered within no time.

The judge said the investigating officer (IO) was apparently not taking any interest in the mater. The DPO, however, claimed that the IO was investigating the matter on merit and he himself was monitoring the investigation.

DPO Rana Shahid Pervaiz said mobile phone records of the girl had been obtained. The girl had phoned Aftab, one of the suspects who had been arrested, 80 times before her kidnapping, he added.

He said serious efforts were being made for her recovery and requested the court to adjourn the hearing. The judge adjourned the hearing till May 8 and directed the DPO to produce the seminary head.

Bilqees Bibi filed a petition seeking the recovery of her daughter Shazia. She alleged that two caretakers and an employee at a religious seminary in Kharian had kidnapped her. She said the police had exonerated the caretakers Qazi Ameer and Qazi Tauqeer and only mentioned their employee Aftab in the FIR. She said she had then been implicated in a robbery case and had to get bail.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2012.