KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday ordered a judicial inquiry into the disappearance of a three-year-old child from the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi as well as the dysfunctional closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and administrative affairs of the medical facility.

A two-judge SHC bench headed by Justice Niamatullah Phulpoto, which was hearing dozens of missing persons’ cases, appointed the district and sessions judge (South) to hold an inquiry into the disappearance of Noman, who went missing from the outpatient department of the hospital, dysfunctional CCTV cameras installed at the OPD and other administrative affairs of one of the major public medical facilities of the city.

Justice Phulpoto directed the district judge to complete the probe by Nov 11 and also directed the chief secretary of Sindh and other senior officials to be in attendance at the next hearing.

Former local government minister Shoro gets pre-arrest bail in corruption inquiries

The bench ordered the senior superintendent of police (South) to use modern devices for the recovery of the missing child and visit the CHK with the district judge to examine the CCTV cameras there.

The bench issued these directives on a petition of a woman seeking recovery of her three-year-old child, who went missing from the OPD of the hospital on May 28, 2018.

At the outset of the hearing on Thursday, an additional chief health secretary with other officials concerned appeared before the bench through a report submitting that the CCTV cameras at the OPD were not working on the day of the incident, adding that now the cameras had been made functional. The bench expressed dissatisfaction on the report.

In a previous hearing, the medical superintendent of the CHK filed comments and submitted that there was no record of the child in question in the OPD section and also contended that the CCTV cameras installed in the OPD block were not functioning.

The petitioner, Saba, moved the SHC stating that on May 28 she took her son, Noman, to the hospital for a check-up. The son went missing when she was busy in obtaining a token in the OPD, she added.

The petitioner maintained that the hospital management was not cooperating with her and the whereabouts of the child were still unknown.

Ex-minister gets bail

Another division bench of the SHC on Thursday granted interim pre-arrest bail to former Sindh minister for local bodies Jam Khan Shoro in corruption inquiries till Nov 8.

The former minister through his lawyer moved the SHC for bail after the National Accountability Bureau issued a warrant for his arrest in corruption inquiries.

The lawyer argued that NAB had been harassing his client after implicating him in a matter of alleged illegal allotment.

NAB alleged that the applicant committed corruption by misusing his authority, including illegal allotments, during his tenure as minister.

An investigating officer of NAB said the applicant was not cooperating with investigators and he also did not turn up after being served a call-up notice.

While issuing notice to NAB, the bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro granted bail to the suspect against a surety bond of Rs1 million till Nov 8 and also directed the applicant to join the investigation.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2018