SUKKUR: The Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench, on Thursday came down hard on the senior superintendent of police (SSP) for not personally appearing before it despite being called and also for failing to satisfy it over his failure to get recovered a girl who had gone missing about eight months ago.

The bench comprising Justice Amjad Ali Sahito had in the previous hearing ordered SSP Singar Malik to appear in person on June 2 along with the missing girl and relevant record after the police officer promised that he would be able to accomplish the task of the girl’s recovery by the date. However, the SSP not only failed to produce the girl, but also stayed away from the court. He, instead, sent an SHO to the court with a report on the progress of the case.

Justice Sahito expressed his annoyance and anguish over the SSP’s attitude, and remarked: “SSP Sukkur Singar Malik is an incompetent police official because he has failed in recovering the girl though the court had given clear directions in this regard”.

He recalled that the SSP had himself [during the previous hearing] promised that he would come to the court along with the girl at the next hearing. Instead of producing the girl, he sent an SHO with a report, observed Justice Sahito.

DIG summoned, report on police ineptness to be sent to CM

The bench rejected the police report, which stated that a joint investigation team (JIT) had been formed to recover the missing girl.

The bench issued a notice to the Sukkur DIG and directed him to get the girl recovered and appear before it along with her on June 13. It also sought an explanation [regarding failure of the police in complying with court’s directives] from the DIG.

Justice Sahito wrote a note addressed to the Sindh chief minister and directed that it be sent to the CM. The note read that no official in the Sukkur [district] police was discharging his duties. A report to be attached to the note mentions that police had failed to recover a girl who had gone missing about eight months ago.

The girl’s father had approached the high court a few weeks back after the police could not find a clue to the victim even several months after her disappearance.

Girl moves SHC over ‘blackmail’

The court also admitted a petition filed by a young schoolgirl through her counsel stating that she was being blackmailed on the basis of her fake Nikahnama. The court issued notices to respondents and senior district police officers for June 13.

Advocate Faiz Mohammad Shar prayed the court to order protection to his client, Amina Arain, a class-IX student and a resident of Bandhi locality of Nawabshah, from blackmail and possible harm. He submitted that a man, Waheed Dahari, had prepared a fake Nikahnama of his marriage with the girl and was blackmailing and harassing her. The accused had made her life as well as those of her family members miserable, the lawyer stated.

He submitted that the accused had drawn her into conversations by offering his help in getting her desirable marks in the SSC exams.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2022