Child custody: CM ordered to appear before LHC

The court has set February 18 as the deadline for the child’s recovery

LAHORE: Lahore High Court’s Justice Tariq Abbasi on Friday directed Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar to ensure recovery of the minor within ten days from the date of the interim order by utilising all required means.

Yasmeen Abdul Rasheed had filed a writ petition in the LHC seeking recovery of her three years old son Abdur Rafay from her former husband.

Justice Abbasi issued the interim order comprising two pages a day after the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastagir seemed reluctant to give an undertaking before the court regarding the recovery of Abdur Rafay from his father’s possession.

On February 6, Justice Abbasi grilled the IGP over the police department’s conduct and non-seriousness over the missing boy’s case. LHC had asked the IGP to provide a child’s recovery time frame however, the police chief did not submit any undertaking or deadline on the matter.

Dastagir said he would make his all-out efforts to produce the minor before the court.

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In the recent interim order issued on February 7, Justice Abbasi expressed his displeasure over the conduct of the IGP. “It seems that the highest police officer of the province is not very keen to honour the court and its proceedings and perform the required job,” he said.

“He is not even ready to tell the court about the period during which the minor shall be recovered and brought into the picture. He even shows his inability to do the needful.”

“Resultantly, there is no other option, for the court except to ask the Punjab CM to take up the matter into his own hands, utilize all the required functionaries and ensure the availability of the minor before the court by February 18, otherwise personally attend the court and explain the position,” the judge instructed.

During earlier proceedings, the documents produced by the IGP before the court did not support the IGP’s version.

Dastagir could not produce any order under which, as per his claim, a team had been constituted for probing the said matter nor any summary of approval was provided through which he had approved constituting a team.

Yasmeen Abdul Rasheed had filed a writ petition in the LHC seeking recovery of her three years old son Abdur Rafay from her former husband.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2020.