Senator loses custody of ‘unclaimed’ child

LHC suspends order by sessions judge, allowing child protection officer to care for child

RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Tuesday suspended an order of a sessions judge which granted temporary custody of a child to Senator Taj Haider.

The senator has been fighting a legal battle to adopt the child.

Justice Shahid Mahmood Abbasi of the LHC suspended the June 21 order of the sessions judge who had handed over custody of fiver-year-old Wajiha to the PPP senator.

On Tuesday, the court heard two petitions. One had been filed by Haider while the other had been filed by Nazia Tabassum, who currently enjoys custody of the girl. After issuing the order, the judge put off further hearings till September 6.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Senator Haider said that he was disappointed by the decision since the trial judge had granted him custody of the girl. He added that he had already submitted an undertaking in the trial court for the welfare of Wajiha apart from a surety bond worth Rs1 million.

He added that Tabassum, a child protection officer with the Rawalpindi Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, had been directed to hand the child over to him on July 10. However, the officer ‘disappeared’ along with the child. Subsequently, he registered an FIR against her with Airport Police Station to recover the child.

Moreover, Haider claimed that the judge had misbehaved with him on Monday. As a result, the senator said that he had written a letter to Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani complaining about the conduct of the judge.

According to the Rawalpindi police and the children protection bureau, the saga began in 2014 when a two-and-a-half-year-old-girl was found roaming aimlessly in Attock. A local court handed her over to the Rawalpindi Child Protection and Welfare Bureau.

The bureau tried to search for the girl’s parents, and even put out advertisements but to no avail. Subsequently, Tabassum claimed temporary custody of the girl. The court allowed the move.

Later, Senator Haider filed an application with the court, seeking to adopt the girl. However, the court rejected his application.

The senator’s appeal in the LHC too was rejected. The Supreme Court however in February 2017 directed the trial court to hear the case again.

The trial court directed Tabassum to hand the girl over to the senator. But the child protection officer disappeared. Police found her house locked while she was also not attending her office.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2017.