Kidnap case not registered for 18 months

Parents allege police had refused to register the case despite their repeated visits.

FAISALABAD: The case of a 14-year-old girl, kidnapped one-and-a-half-year ago, has yet to be registered at the local police station. The parents, talking to The Express Tribune on Thursday, alleged that the police had refused to register the case despite their repeated visits.

Barkat Ali, the girl’s father, said that his daughter, Ume Kulsoom, used to work as a maid at a private school in the neighbourhood. He said the girl was kidnapped in 2009 by her employer and his son-in-law. A few days after his daughter had disappeared, he said, a man called him and said that his daughter had fled with him and they were in Lahore. But after a few more days Kulsom herself called and told his father that the school owner and his son-in-law had abducted her. Ali said that since that day he has no knowledge of his daughter’s whereabouts. Salma, the girl’s daughter, said that the police were not registering their case.

Hearing about the case, the station house officer at the Ghulam Muhammad Abad police station, Muhammad Akram, said that no such application had yet been received. He said that the police would take action whenever an application is filed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2010.