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SHC summons city police chief, others in issue of orphanages
Sat, January 16, 2021
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed the city police chief and the deputy inspector general (investigation) Sindh to appear before it on Feb 8 in a matter about investigation into affairs of all the orphanages in the province.
The single-judge bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar also directed the Federal Investigation Agency to further investigate such centres and to examine their record regarding marriages of orphans.
The bench also issued notices to the deputy director of the women development department and the chairman of the child protection authority to appear in court on next hearing with complete data of missing/found orphans.
In an earlier hearing, the bench had expressed concerns over a report that the marriages of young girls living in an orphanage centre were being arranged without their consent and no record was maintained regarding such weddings and told the FIA to hold a probe against all orphanage centres.
It had also directed the FIA to ascertain the present status of the married girls and whether the consent of those girls was taken and to explore if those marriages were valid and if there was any possibility of criminal intention or human trafficking.
When the matter came up for hearing, FIA officials filed an inquiry report which was taken on record. However, the bench observed that the FIA had failed to gather information or evidence from officers of the women development department and police officials. Therefore, it said that the FIA report was being considered as an interim one and it was expected that FIA officials would further probe the matter.
At this juncture, the member inspection team (MIT-II) of the SHC, Abdul Razzak, submitted that additional inspector general of police Ghulam Nabi Memon and DIG-investigation Sindh Farhat Junejo were the relevant officials and their assistance could be sought in the present matter.
Thereafter, the bench directed the additional IG Karachi and the DIG-investigation to appear in person before it at the next hearing.
Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020
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