Missing children: Police directed to register FIR in each case
Petitioner NGO tells SHC the crime is not treated as cognizable offence.
KARACHI:
The Sindh police department has been directed to ensure registration of the First Information Report (FIR) on each complaint in cases of children’s kidnapping.
This was stated by an official of the Sindh home department who appeared before a division bench of the Sindh High Court, hearing a petition against non-registration of FIRs in missing children’s cases.
A local NGO, Roshni Research & Development Welfare, had approached the high court against poor response by police authorities in handling such ‘sensitive’ cases.
“Some 5,000 to 6,000 children go missing every year,” said the organisation’s lawyer Naveed Ahmed while referring to data compiled by the NGO.
He stated that police used to record complaints about missing children in their daily diary (Roznamcha) at the police station instead of registering an FIR.
Advocate Ahmed argued that if a missing child was not rescued within 48 hours, then the police should register a kidnapping case and investigate the matter according to the law.
He prayed to the court to issue direction to the home department, Sindh Police IG and other respondents to submit a report on whether complaints of missing children were registered and investigated, and order special training of the police to deal with such cases.
On Friday, Additional Advocate General Meeran Muhammad Shah filed comments of the home department, stating ‘missing of a child’ was already considered as cognizable offence, therefore, police were duty-bound to lodge FIR of the any such incident.
He, however, conceded that complaints of missing children were rarely received by the home department, which had so far received only one such complaint and the applicant’s grievance was addressed swiftly.
Denying the allegations that police were not properly investigating such cases, AAG Shah maintained that action was promptly taken whenever such complaint was received. Apart from police, Additional AG said, NGOs were also duty-bound to help poor and uneducated people in cases of missing children and also bring them to the knowledge of home department, which would ensure action for their redress.
Petitioner’s lawyer Naveed Ahmed requested for time to go through the comments filed by home department.
Allowing him time, the division bench directed Advocate Naveed to assist the court over the matter on next date of hearing, which will be fixed later by the office.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2012.
The Sindh police department has been directed to ensure registration of the First Information Report (FIR) on each complaint in cases of children’s kidnapping.
This was stated by an official of the Sindh home department who appeared before a division bench of the Sindh High Court, hearing a petition against non-registration of FIRs in missing children’s cases.
A local NGO, Roshni Research & Development Welfare, had approached the high court against poor response by police authorities in handling such ‘sensitive’ cases.
“Some 5,000 to 6,000 children go missing every year,” said the organisation’s lawyer Naveed Ahmed while referring to data compiled by the NGO.
He stated that police used to record complaints about missing children in their daily diary (Roznamcha) at the police station instead of registering an FIR.
Advocate Ahmed argued that if a missing child was not rescued within 48 hours, then the police should register a kidnapping case and investigate the matter according to the law.
He prayed to the court to issue direction to the home department, Sindh Police IG and other respondents to submit a report on whether complaints of missing children were registered and investigated, and order special training of the police to deal with such cases.
On Friday, Additional Advocate General Meeran Muhammad Shah filed comments of the home department, stating ‘missing of a child’ was already considered as cognizable offence, therefore, police were duty-bound to lodge FIR of the any such incident.
He, however, conceded that complaints of missing children were rarely received by the home department, which had so far received only one such complaint and the applicant’s grievance was addressed swiftly.
Denying the allegations that police were not properly investigating such cases, AAG Shah maintained that action was promptly taken whenever such complaint was received. Apart from police, Additional AG said, NGOs were also duty-bound to help poor and uneducated people in cases of missing children and also bring them to the knowledge of home department, which would ensure action for their redress.
Petitioner’s lawyer Naveed Ahmed requested for time to go through the comments filed by home department.
Allowing him time, the division bench directed Advocate Naveed to assist the court over the matter on next date of hearing, which will be fixed later by the office.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2012.