Court grants custody of five girls to their parents

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A judicial magistrate on 20 March 2024 handed over the custody of five teenage girls, who had disappeared from Saeedabad last month and recovered on Tuesday, to their parents.

The investigating officer, Irshad Ahmed, brought the five teenage girls three daughters of Zameer Abbas and two daughters of Zulfiqar Ali along with two suspects factory worker Mumtaz and rickshaw driver Rashid before Judicial Magistrate (West) Zarmina Laghari.

The IO informed the court that the case was registered at the Saeedabad police station while the disappeared girls were recovered from a garments factory near Hadi Market in Nazimabad. During interrogation, the recovered girls denied claims of their abduction or kidnapping and stated that they were working at the factory of their own accord.

During the proceeding, the five girls recorded their statements under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code.

In their statements, they said that they had left home on their own after quarrelling with their grandfather. They acknowledged their mistake and expressed their desire to go with their parents.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the two suspects had filed an application pleading to discharge them from the case as the girls had admitted that they had not been kidnapped or abducted.

After recording their statements, the judge granted the girls’ custody to their parents.

`The girls are free to go whenever they want to go. As per their statements, they are willing to go with their parents, which is their wish,` the court ruled.

The judge also discharged the two suspects against a surety bond of Rs50,000 each.

The girls three sisters and their two cousins had gone missing on Feb 15 and the police had registered a kidnapping case against unknown persons on the complaint of Mr Abbas.

Acknowledgement: Published in Daily Dawn News on 21st March 2024.
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