KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday summoned the provincial health secretary, medical superintendent of the Civil Hospital Karachi and SSP South to appear in person and explain why closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the outpatient department of the health facility were dysfunctional.

While hearing dozens of missing persons cases, a two-judge SHC bench headed by Justice Niamatullah Phulpoto issued the directive on a petition of a woman seeking recovery of her three-year-old child who went missing from the OPD of the hospital in May.

On the directive of the bench, the CHK MS filed comments and submitted that there was no record of the child in question in the OPD section and also said that the CCTV cameras installed in the OPD block were not functioning.

Justice Phulpoto observed that it was a very serious issue that a child went missing from the OPD and the cameras installed there were not working.

Health secretary, hospital MS summoned; police told to make serious efforts to find ‘missing’ children

The bench directed the health secretary, MS and SSP South to appear in court on Oct 18 along with details.

The petitioner, Saba, moved the SHC stating that on May 8 she took her son, Noman, to the hospital for a check-up. The son went missing when she was busy in obtaining a token, she added.

She maintained that the hospital management was not cooperating and the whereabouts of the child still remained unknown.

In another petition, the same bench ordered the Karachi police chief to hold an inquiry into the death of a missing person allegedly killed in a staged police encounter.

Petitioner Sajida Ameer submitted that her son, Saad Khan, went missing near Karachi airport in July last year. She sought his whereabouts and pleaded for his recovery.

An investigating officer claimed that her son was killed in an encounter with police within the remit of the Khawaja Ajmer Nagri police station.

However, the petitioner’s lawyer argued that the captive was killed in a staged encounter after being held in wrongful detention.

The bench directed the Karachi police chief to probe the matter and file a report within a month.

Meanwhile, the bench also issued notices for Nov 7 to the Rangers, police and other respondents on a number of fresh identical petitions and also expressed resentment over the progress reports filed by the IOs.

Body formed to trace ‘missing’ kids, court told

A senior police officer on Wednesday informed the same bench that in compliance with its earlier order, the Sindh police chief had constituted a special team to make efforts to trace out missing children.

The DIG of the Crime Investigation Agency, Amin Yusufzai, submitted that he was heading the team, which also comprised officials from other specialised units of the police.

The bench directed the team to use all modern devices and techniques to trace out the missing children.

The judges said they were told that two of the 22 missing children had returned to their homes. “It is expected that serious efforts will be made for the recovery of remaining children,” the bench noted.

The court summoned the SHO, DSP and SSP concerned on Oct 25 after a woman informed the bench that her minor daughter had been missing for the last two years.

The head of the special team informed the bench that it had met twice since Sept 17 and met the IOs as well as the parents of the missing children and closely examined the efforts being made for their recovery.

Advertisements containing photos and information about missing children were also published in leading newspapers and such advertisements would also be pasted outside police stations in the province, he said, adding that the Karachi police chief established the child protection response centre in the city to focus on missing children, facilitate their parents to lodge cases and monitor the investigation.

The petition was filed by Roshni Research and Development Welfare NGO in 2012 seeking court directives to the provincial police for considering the cases of children who went missing from different parts of Karachi and lodge FIRs.

The NGO alleged that cases of missing children were not properly investigated by the police which resulted in many avoidable deaths.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2018