6-month-old boy abducted from Sindh Government Hospital

KARACHI: In the curious case of an infant’s kidnapping which took place at the Sindh Government Hospital on Thursday, no one knows who is to blame.

The parents accuse the hospital of being irresponsible and the hospital claims that the parents sold their six-month-old baby boy. Jan Mohammad and his wife Zulekha Bibi had brought six-month-old Omair to the hospital in Liaquatabad nine days ago for a check-up. He was admitted to the pediatrics ward soon after because of a high fever. Zulekha Bibi said that she let a woman named Huma play with her child quite frequently. “I do not know who she was, she told me she was a staff member and took my son,” said the mother with tears in her eyes. She added that Huma had taken Omair out to play and never came back.

The suspect was described as a 25- to 30-year-old woman named Huma with a dark complexion. The hospital staff said that she always carried a large chador with her.

The deputy medical superintendent, Mohammad Yameen, told The Express Tribune that the hospital was not responsible because the parents had let a woman they did not know play with their child. He added that the staff had told them not to but the mother did not listen. “Whenever the guard asked the woman to leave, Zulekha Bibi would interfere and say that the woman loved Omair and should not be bothered.”

Omair’s father, who works as a juice vendor, told The Express Tribune that the hospital was trying to change the story. “They are falsely blaming us and saying that we sold our son! Do you think it is possible for parents to sell their child?” he said. The police have registered FIR No. 251/11 under section 364-A of the Pakistan Penal Code on behalf of the father and have started the investigations. SHO Iqbal Sheikh said that the police was trying to make a composite sketch of the woman with some help from the parents and doctors.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st,  2011.