KARACHI: A man was caught red-handed for trying to kidnap a three-year-old girl in a slum area of Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Friday, police said.

They added that Haroon attempted to kidnap Sonia who was sleeping with her mother in a shanty in Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s block 5. But as her mother woke up and raised hue and cry, relatives caught and thrashed the suspect before handing him over to the area police, officials explained.

The police later registered an FIR (444/2016) under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Pakistan Penal Code against the suspect on a complaint of the girl’s father, Rabnawaz, said Gulshan SHO Safdar Mashwani.

He said the suspect appeared to be a drug addict.

Mob attacks ‘kidnapper’

A Sindh Secretariat employee, Suresh Kumar, was severely beaten on Friday by a mob alleging he kidnapped a child.

The Brigade police rescued Kumar, a resident of Jacob Lines, and managed to arrest one attacker while the others managed to escape.

Police said Suresh was passing through the area when 35 to 40 people got a hold of him, shouting that he was trying to kidnap a child in the area. He was beaten with a hard, blunt weapon.

Police soon arrived at the scene and arrested a suspect identified as Ishtiaq, while the others escaped into congested streets nearby, said Brigade SHO Raja Tanveer.

The police later registered an FIR (202/2016) against Ishtiaq and others under

• Section 147 ─ rioting: whoever is guilty of rioting, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both,

• Section 148 ─ rioting, armed with deadly weapon: whoever is guilty of rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon or with anything which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both and

• Section 337-A-1 ─ shajjah: whoever, by doing any act with the intention of thereby causing hurt to any person, or with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause hurt to any person shall be liable to ‘daman’ and may also be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years as ta’zir.

SHO Tanveer said rumours about widespread kidnapping had triggered fear and panic, while some had beaten the man ‘for fun’. He said Suresh was a sanitary worker in the Sindh Secretariat.

The officer vowed to arrest the fleeing suspects, saying that mobs should be taken to task.

Meanwhile, police warned the public against taking the law into their own hands.

“The police have decided to take action those involved in fake stories about kidnapping of children,” said Karachi-East SSP.

“People who subject mentally challenged persons, drug addicts and beggars to beatings, accusing them of kidnapping children without any proof or evidence will be taken to task,” added the officer.

According to a statement released by the police, anyone trying to ‘forcibly’ portray someone as a kidnapper would be booked and arrested.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2016