Court orders senator’s arrest in kidnapping case

BAP leader booked over allegations of abducting a 10-year-old girl

QUETTA: Additional District and Sessions Court in Quetta on Thursday dismissed the interim bail of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Sarfaraz Bugti and issued orders for his arrest over allegations of kidnapping a child.

When the court ordered Senator Bugti’s arrest, he was present in the court but somehow managed to escape.

The BAP leader has been accused of abducting a 10-year old girl.

The girl’s grandmother had filed an abduction case against the child’s father and Bugti for facilitating the accused.

According to a first information report lodged with Quetta’s Bijli Road police station, a woman alleged that she took her 10-year-old granddaughter to a family court so that she could meet her father Tawakkal Ali. The woman said her daughter Sehrish was killed in 2013 and after that the court had given her granddaughter’s custody to her.

In October last year, the woman was ordered by the family court to bring her granddaughter to the court every Saturday so that she could meet her father.

The woman said Tawakkal Ali forced the child to get in his car and took her to Senator Sarfaraz Bugti’s house. Later, she was told by the guards it was the senator’s house.

Bugti has condemned the incident and denied any involvement in the child’s kidnapping.  "I am being pushed on political grounds in an unrelated domestic dispute case. I will approach the High Court for my bail," he said. According to police sources, efforts are being made for his arrest.

Meanwhile, Bugti lawyers claimed that district court had dismissed the BAP’s leader bail application but no orders had been issued for his arrest.

"Application for bail will be filed today in high court," one of the counsels said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2020.