FIA report on shelter homes ‘unsatisfactory’

Plea accuses welfare organisations of abuse, marriages of orphans in shelter homes


Nasir Butt December 15, 2020

The Sindh High Court has summoned the Sindh Child Protection Authority chairperson, women development department's Hyderabad deputy director, Karachi AIG Ghulam Nabi Memon, and the Investigation DIG in personal capacity over a plea pertaining abuse and marriage of orphan girls in custody.

A single bench of the high court, comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, heard the plea implicating shelter homes run by the Edhi Foundation and others on Monday.

The petitioner's counsel alleged that the administration of Edhi Welfare Organisation tells people to take the body of a dead child when they are approached for child adoption but never hands over a living child. "There are many people who want to adopt children and are capable of providing a better upbringing," argued the counsel.

The petitioner claimed the foundation's authorities did not let people adopt orphan children for fear of their funds being suspended. He further accused the welfare foundation of having turned orphans into a source of income.

The court remarked that the provincial government has given a clean chit to the Sindh Social Welfare Department and the Sindh Child Protection Authority. "The privileged remain indifferent but there is no one to care for orphans," remarked Justice Panhwar.

According to the report submitted before the court by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), over 52,000 abandoned children were taken into Edhi Homes in Karachi over the past five years and 1,550 orphans died in the shelter homes in the same time period.

The FIA's report on the adoptions and marriages of orphan girls and women was based on data collected from 19 orphanages, according to the federal agency, which claimed to have visited the shelter homes operated by different welfare organisations.

All married orphans claimed to have married voluntarily and the marriage agreements of 63 orphans were verified, states the report.

Besides, the adoption cases of 414 children were reviewed and the adoptive parents of 110 children were made part of the investigation. The report mentions that 129 of the adopted children had moved abroad.

The details of children who died while they were admitted in the shelter homes and orphanages were also collected, according to the FIA. The report further states that an investigation was carried out at the Edhi shelter home in Clifton over 19 females who went missing between December 7, 2019, and February 22, 2020.

According to the report, the judicial magistrate raided the Edhi shelter home in Clifton on January 23 and seven girls were recovered, four of whom were handed over to their parents.

In the report, the FIA has requested the court to order the collection of records from all shelter homes and orphanages.

The bench remarked that the FIA officers did not know how to investigate the matter. The provincial women development department's Hyderabad deputy director has over 5,000 cases pertaining to rapes of minor girls and forced conversions and marriages, observed the court, asking the FIA officials who else they investigated.

Justice Panhwar remarked that the FIA's report was of no use as the federal agency had not taken the statement of the Sindh Women Development Department. He observed that information from the public could also have been obtained if a notice had been published in the newspapers.

The court directed the FIA to submit a progress report after accelerating the investigation by involving the police, the women development department's officials and other relevant authorities.

It further sought information from the Edhi counsel about the procedure for child adoption.

The court adjourned the hearing till January 8, 2021.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2020.

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