ISLAMABAD, May 23: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Thursday took suo motu notices of the abduction of three girls, including a student of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), and instructed the inspectors general of police (IGPs) concerned to recover them within two weeks.
The first notice was taken on the application of Dr Gul Mezar Khan of Kohat, who stated that Abdul Hussain Junejo abducted her daughter, a student of the QAU, in the first week of February and took her to Khairpur, Sindh.
He said despite registration of an FIR, the Islamabad police were reluctant in arresting the accused and recovering his daughter.
The chief justice instructed the IGP Islamabad to constitute a team of senior police officers to recover the kidnap victim and produce her before the district and sessions judge (DSJ) for recording her statement.
Khalid Mehmood, an officer of the Secretariat police, told Dawn that the FIR had been registered in mid-February. “Abdul Hussain Junejo claimed that he had married the girl but her father, a former army officer, was of the view that Junejo had kidnapped her.”
He said the police summoned Mr Junejo and the girl and in her statement recorded before the sessions judge Islamabad she said she had married Junejo on her own will and wanted to live with him.
As a result, the court allowed her to go with her husband. “Police cannot do anything when a court gives clear orders,” said the police officer.
Riasat Ali Azad, a Supreme Court lawyer, while talking to Dawn said whenever an alleged kidnaper claims that he has married a woman with her consent, the statement of the woman is recorded, under section 164, in front of a district and sessions judge to confirm the claim. “If the woman says that she has married without pressure and wants to stay with her husband, the case/FIR is quashed.”
The lawyer added: “Although the statement under section 164 is recorded once, but if the Supreme Court feels that the girl was pressured or not given a neutral environment during recording of the statement, it can order recording of the statement again,” he said.
Meanwhile, action was also taken on an application of Sohbat Ali, a resident of Khairpur Mirs, regarding abduction of his daughter. The application stated that he got registered an FIR in his native city against the accused persons but the police neither arrested the culprits nor recovered his daughter.
The applicant said that he himself caught the three nominated accused persons and produced them before the police. He stated that the accused disclosed before the police that his daughter had been taken to Sialkot. Even then, the police did nothing torecover the victim.
He alleged that the accused persons were still threatening him of dire consequences. The applicant requested the apex court to provide him justice.The chief justice instructed the IGP Sindh to get the girl recovered and produce her before the DSJ concerned who shall record her statement and submit a report within 15 days.
In another application, Ali Akbar, a resident of Karachi, stated that some people had abducted his daughter and looted gold and cash from his house. He said the police neither properly investigated the case nor recovered his daughter.
The chief justice directed the IGP Sindh to constitute a team of senior police officers to recover the victim and submit a report within two weeks after recording her statement under section 164.