Kidnapped child reunited with her family after 15 months

GHRTV

Jun 29, 2023 - 15:39

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Kidnapped child reunited with her family after 15 months

Photo: Child. Daiga Ellaby/Unsplash. 2017.

28-06-2023

Charlotte Parker

Pakistan and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defence.

A three-year-old girl, who was kidnapped from her home 15 months ago, was reunited with her parents on the 27th of June 2023. The girl was initially abducted from outside her family home, and was eventually found in a residential building after a neighbour of the kidnappers alerted the police. Approximately one week after the kidnapping occurred, a family reported to Lahore police stating that her neighbours had appeared with a child that did not resemble their four sons, which raised suspicion for the caller, who lived on the first floor of the house where the alleged kidnappers lived. As a result of this call, the Lahore police went to the home and recovered the kidnapped girl, then proceeding to hand her over to the Child Protection Bureau. The Lahore police however did not investigate the couple after retrieving the child, despite there being a First Instance Report registered by the child’s father after her abduction, but the case had been closed for some time and was only recently reopened after which the police was able to contact Lahore police and the Child Protection Bureau. The Lahore police also failed to contact the child’s parents after retrieving her from the kidnapper’s home, and it was reported that the kidnappers were not detained at any point after the child was rescued. After the case was reopened and the police were able to liaise with the agencies that dealt with rescuing the child, where she had remained with the Child Protection Bureau, a court ordered the parents of the child to take a DNA test to prove their relation to the child. Two weeks after this, on June 27th, the family was reunited as the three-year-old girl was returned to her parents and her family home.

Despite this being seemingly resolved, the police have not announced any intention to take action against the kidnappers, nor have the Lahore police made any comments on their blatant mishandling of the case.

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