PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the National Database and Registration Authority to block computerised national identity card of a resident of Swabi district charged by his wife with forcibly taking away their four-year-old son.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim directed the Swabi district police officer to recover the minor boy till Dec 19, or it would then summon the provincial police chief.

The bench was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by a resident of Rawalpindi, Maryam Taj, requesting the court to order production and handing over of her son to her.

Advocates Sana Majeed and Imran Khan appeared for the petitioner, whereas an additional director (legal) of Federal Investigation Agency, Abdur Rehman Afridi, and SHO of Swabi’s Kalu Khan police station Ajab Khan Durrani also turned up in the case.

The FIA’s official informed the bench that as per earlier orders of the court they had put the names of the respondent, Abid Iqbal, and the minor boy, Adam Iqbal on its stop list and now they could not travel abroad.

The petitioner’s lawyers stated that Abid Iqbal had married the petitioner in 2017 and from the wedlock they were having the four-year-old boy.

They said as the couple was having strained relations, the respondent (Abid Iqbal) had forcibly taken away the boy around 21 days ago and had not been allowing the petitioner to meet him.

They stated that the marriage between the petitioner and respondent had still been intact. They said during the previous hearing the court had ordered the SHO of Kalu Khan police station to recover the child, but he had failed to do so.

The SHO informed the bench that he had raided several locations along with the court bailiff but the respondent and the boy could not be traced.

The petitioner’s lawyers stated that the respondent was present in Swabi, but the police were not arresting him. They claimed the respondent had contracted second marriage three days ago and the evidence of his marriage was also available, but the police were least interested in recovery of the child.

The bench observed that it was a serious matter as a mother had been struggling for recovery of her minor son.

The bench observed that if the police failed to recover the child by Dec 19 then the bench would be left with no other option but to summon the IGP.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023