‘Kidnapping drama’: Runaways handed over to elder aunt

Court denies custody to father due to his conduct after separation

KARACHI:

The Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate Central, Jahanzeb Soomro, has ordered that the children, Ayan Rashid and his sister Anabia Rashid, who went missing from a North Nazimabad house and recovered the next day, may be handed over to their maternal aunt Farheen Naaz Sonia. 

The court made the ruling after hearing the case against the mysterious disappearance of the two siblings filed by their maternal uncle Salman Ahmed at the Hyderi police Station in the Central district.

The statements of both the children were recorded in front of the magistrate under the section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The children stated before the court that they had left home due to domestic beatings. They said that they were not kidnapped and left the home of their own accord.

The children urged that they do not want to live with their Aunt Beenish who has their custody and would rather live with their Aunt Sonia, where they used to live previously.

Father demands custody

The lawyer of the children's father, Rashid, said that false statements were made from the maternal side of his children. Rashid who had separated from his wife in 2015 said he was not allowed to meet his children, though their mother was away, working in Dubai for the past two years.

He demanded that the aunts and uncles should be arrested and punished, as they are a stain on society. There is no substitute for a mother, but where there is no mother, the father is the natural guardian.

Rashid alleged that his children were treated worse than house servants. He demanded custody of the children, maintaining that he has his own house and business, while their mother has been gone for two years, due to which children live at their aunt's house, where they are mistreated. The father lamented that it has been two days since the FIR was registered, but their mother did not even bother to come from Dubai.

Also read: Kidnapping drama unravels as two siblings return home in Karachi

In these circumstances, Rashid requested that the custody of the children be handed over to him as there is no one more loyal to children than their father.

The Hyderi police station Investigating Officer Muzaffar Khan said that the children had said that they were tortured and beaten at their maternal grandmother’s home by their Uncle Salman and Aunt Beenish.

Muzzafar quoting the children said that they left the house and asked a car driver to take them to Edhi home. The car owners were good people, who took the children homez fed them and called their mother in the morning.

In response, counsel for the uncle of the children argued that they were abducted and the story was exaggerated. When the institutions joined the investigation, the children were released.

Regarding handing the custody to the father, the children’s uncle Salman said that Rashid has not given even a toy to Ayan and Anabia in all these years let alone bear their expenses.

Salman  maintained that Rashid had said that he could not afford the expenses of the children. It was in his knowledge for two years that the children were with the grandmother, so why did he not file a case. Custody of children cannot be handed over without filing a case.

Judge Soomro while pronouncing the verdict  ordered the children to be handed over to their Aunt Sonia.

The court ordered the aunt and uncle to deposit a surety bond of Rs500,000.

 The court directed the children's father to approach the concerned court regarding custody. Judge Soomro said that though father is a natural guardian, “the circumstances of the case at hand disentitle him to temporary custody of the children given his conduct since separation with his spouse.”

He further directed Sonia not to take the children out of the limits of the local police station and a compliance report should be submitted every week. The judge also ordered that the names of Farheen Naaz Sonia, Ayan Rashid and Anabia Rashid be put on the exit control list.