Missing children: Court asks CPLC, police chief to file reports by January 16

At least 5,000 children go missing every year: Roshni Research and Development Welfare.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court has issued a notice to the chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) to file a report containing information regarding the children who have gone missing in the city.

Justice Munir Akhtar, who headed the bench, also called for a detailed report from the Sindh police chief about the number of cases and status of investigation relating to the minors’ disappearances registered at all the city police stations. These directions came during the hearing of a petition by the Roshni Research and Development Welfare against the police for allegedly showing reluctance.

“Around 5,000 to 6,000 children go missing every year. Around 2,317 children went missing from the jurisdictions of 106 police stations of Karachi during the year 2012,” said the data compiled by the NGO.

The group alleged that the police usually record the complaints about missing children in their daily diary (Roznamcha) at the police station instead of registering an FIR.

“If a missing child is not rescued within 48 hours, then the police should register a kidnapping case and investigate the matter according to the law,” the group’s lawyer, Naveed Ahmed Khan, argued.

In October, the court had also directed the CPLC to gather information from the public about the missing children by publishing a notice in the newspapers. According to the petitioner’s lawyer on Thursday, the information had been compiled.

The SHOs told the court that most of the minors had returned and the FIRs in some cases were also registered, adding that some FIRs were declared as “C” class upon recovery of the missing children.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2013.