KARACHI: Over the past three months, A* has sent thousands of rupees through a mobile phone cash transfer service. He is ready to offer everything in return for his kidnapped son.
After his son went missing, A was contacted by a man over the phone. For safe return of the boy, the man was asked to transfer money - neither in cash nor to bank accounts - but through cellular cash transfer.
Subsequently, A transferred whatever amount the suspected kidnappers demanded on six different numbers through the cash transfer service. But at least one of the six unidentified callers was only deceiving the helpless father.
As the police have failed to find his son’s whereabouts, he has gone to the court seeking safe recovery of his child.
Standing beside the policemen in the courtroom, the father narrated his ordeal to the judges. The owners of the six cellphone numbers provided by the petitioner have been interrogated and investigated, said Amjad Kalyar, the investigating officer, on the judges’ query. The national identity cards used to collect the money transferred at the other end were misused by the accused. One of the suspects has already been taken into custody.
“It is stated that [one of the alleged suspects] merely exploited the situation to deceive the petitioner,” observed Chief Justice Mushir Alam, who headed the bench.
Concerned over the misuse of the facility, the judges had previously asked senior lawyers, Aijaz Ahmed and Arshad Tayyabli, to assist the court in understanding the transactions carried out through cellphones.
Ahmed highlighted the mechanism of money transfer through mobile phone service, explaining in detail the process of sending and receiving cash. “Transactions are carried out through branchless banking regulations, as updated on June 20, 2011, by the State Bank of Pakistan.
It is one of the most regulated activities undertaken by the regulators of the financial market, the State Bank of Pakistan,” the lawyer explained. The process is a hybrid regulatory framework under the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962, Macro Finance Institution Ordinance, 2001, and Electronic Payment Act, 2007.
Appreciating his descriptive submission, the court directed the police officers to keep a close watch on the suspects, who received money by exploiting the plight of the petitioner. Putting off the hearing to December 17, the judges further directed the investigation officer to make sure the petitioner gets back his money.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2012.
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