KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday dismissed a bail application of interned social worker Sarim Burney in a child trafficking case.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested and booked the social worker, along with others, on the complaint of the US authorities for allegedly getting illegal adoption/ guardianship of three baby girls from a family court in Karachi by allegedly using and providing fraudulent documents and intending to hand them over to families living in the United States.

The counsel for the applicant through his lawyer moved the post-arrest bail application and after hearing both sides and examining the record, a single-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Tasneem Sultana turned down the application.

Earlier, the SHC had also dismissed a similar application of the incarcerated social worker in February this year.

The FIA in the charge sheet alleged that the prime suspect, Burney, and his accomplices knowingly provided false information and concealed facts before a family court, claiming that the three baby girls were found abandoned outside the trust and that they had “made every effort to locate their parents”, but no one came forward.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2025