LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Friday allowed the four minor girls to go with their families after they recorded their statements in the presence of the suspects who allegedly kidnapped them from Hanjarwal.

In their statements recorded under section 164 of CrPC, the girls claimed that they went outside home for enjoyment but the suspects abducted them. Qasim Ali, a rickshaw driver, first took the girls to his home at Green Town and later to Sahiwal. The girls claimed that the suspects wanted to force them to marry.

Police submitted the girls’ initial medical reports which showed no evidence of sexual assault on them. On Friday, the girls told the magistrate that they wanted to go home now.

A lawyer of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) said the girls should not be handed over to their families at this stage. The magistrate, however, allowed the girls to go with their families.

The other day, the magistrate remanded five men in police custody and sent two women suspects on judicial remand.

Police had recovered the girls from Sahiwal with the arrest of Qasim Ali, Shahzad and his wife, Naeem Shahzad, Asif and his wife, and Shaukat Ali.

The Hanjarwal police lodged an FIR on the complaint of Irfan Ali, the father of Anam,10, and Kinza, 11. He alleged that her daughters along with Pinki, 14, and Ayesha, 8, the daughters of his neighbour, were kidnapped.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2021