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FAISALABAD, July 17: The civil judge-cum-judicial magistrate refused to grant physical remand of three accused involved in the trade of children and sent them to the district jail for 14-day judicial remand here on Wednesday.
Maqbool Ahmad, Ghulam Rasool and Abdul Ghaffar were booked on the charge of forcing the children to beg against their will, cheating their parents and committing fraud.
The prosecution submitted court to grant their physical remand so that other gangs involved in this trade in various districts could be traced as the accused had information about them.
The prosecution also insisted that police intended to recover the ‘money’ which they used to extort through children.
Disagreeing with the prosecution’s notion, the judge termed the case simple and prima facie as it appeared that parents, unable to feed their families, handed over their children to the accused with their sweet will. The judge observed that the prosecution had not produced the evidence which warranted the physical remand of the accused. The parents also did not record their statements or provide any evidence in support of the police claim that the children were treated inhumanly or kidnapped by the accused.
A police team on Monday last, after receiving information that some organized gangs had been involved in forcing the “abducted” children to sell pamphlets, audio-cassettes and other material, raided a hotel in the general bus stand area and arrested three persons. The police also recovered three children from a small room.
When contacted, the police official concerned said the children were still in police custody and they were not produced before court.
He also admitted that relatives and parents of the children had not so far approached the police in the teeth of receiving message about their recovery. He said the children would be handed over to their guardians provided they contacted to police. He claimed that there was no need to get permission from court for handing over the children to their parents.
THREE SHOT DEAD: Three people were shot dead in different incidents.
Azizur Rehman and Amjad Ali allegedly shot dead an armyman, Ishtiaq, due to an old enmity in Chak 430-GB, Tandlianwala.
Imtiaz Asghar shot dead his brother, Imran Asghar, after falling out over the property issue in Chak 266-RB in the limits of Dijkot police station.
Armed men reportedly opened fire on the house of Iqbal over a minor issue in Ghaziabad. One of the bullets injured seriously a minor girl, Sana. She died on the way to hospital.
