LHC censures police for not grilling ex-lawmaker in girl abduction case

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday gave the Lahore police time till April 7 to recover a kidnapped girl, as her brother told the court that a person called him to say “pick her up from the Dera of Mansha Sandhu” – a former lawmaker.

During the hearing, when Justice Malik Shazad Ahmad Khan asked Lahore CCPO Zulfiqar Hameed about the police’s inability to recover the girl, the reply was that they had made every effort for the purpose, including checking the hospital, NADRA and nikah record.

According to 24NewsHD, the CCPO claimed that they had even arrested the accused but it was a matter of watta satta (when girls are exchanged for marriage by two families) and the girl had left the home by her own choice.

However, the girl’s brother informed the judge that they had received a call in which a person told to pick her up from Mansha’s Dera.

When questioned by the court, a CIA inspector said that they interrogated the person who had phoned, but not Sandhu.

On this, the court expressed its displeasure and observed that it will summon the Punjab IGP. However, the law officer requested the judge not to do so, saying they will interrogate Sandhu.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing while giving the police a deadline until April 7 to recover the girl.

The petitioner, the victim’s mother whose daughter Fauzia Bibi is missing since the last year, had requested the LHC to order the police to recover the missing girl.

She argued that no action had been taken so far after the registration of FIR with the Ghaziabad Police Station.