KARACHI: Two girls, who were kidnapped in September 2023 but recovered last week, will narrate their ordeal before a judicial magistrate on Jan 4.

After three months of search, the two missing teenage girls — Hafsa and Maria — were recovered in a police raid from Zia Colony last week, where they (police) also detained four suspects, including a woman and underage boy.

On Monday, two main suspects, including a woman, were produced before the court. However, the remaining two suspects, who were in jail custody, were not brought before the court. On this ground, the court restrained the recording of statements of the witnesses under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and issued an order to record the statements on Jan 4.

The case was registered by a maternal uncle of the missing girls, Faizan, at Shershah police station on Sept 21, 2023, under Section 364-A (kidnapping or abducting to murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code, against unknown persons.

According to the FIR, the complainant’s two nieces left home on Sept 16, 2023, to buy something from a local shop after taking money from their grandmother in Shershah.

After apprehending four suspects — Fareed, Hasnain, Sonia and an underage boy — the IO produced them before the judicial magistrate (West) and submitted a report on Dec 29, 2023.

The report said the case was classified as “A class” because the suspects were untraceable at that time. However, during that period, a search was underway to apprehend those involved in abducting the girls. The report stated that acting on a tip-off from an informant, a raid was conducted at a house near Public School Korangi in Zia Colony.

The IO had requested the court for 14 days of police custody on the ground that he had to interrogate the suspects, recover the case property and complete all legal formalities. But the court rejected the request and placed the suspects into judicial custody till Jan 11.

During the initial investigation in Nov 2023, the police arrested 55-year-old Imran Hussain, biological father of Maria and stepfather of Hafsa.

Police claimed at that time that Imran had committed suicide in the lock-up of the Shershah police station where he was grilled in connection with the disappearance of his daughter and stepdaughter.

After the interrogation, Imran was sent to the lock-up where his body was found hanging with a ceiling fan, according to police. Later, the body was shifted to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities.

Talking to the media last year, Faizan said the police had called him and his brother-in-law Imran for interrogation, adding that the police told him (Faizan) that they had detained Imran and told him that they wanted to ‘interrogate’ him further about the disappearance of the two siblings.

Faizan said that when he and his sister Yasmeen arrived at the police station, they were informed that Imran had committed suicide by hanging himself with a ceiling fan.

However, a senior police official took notice of the incident and directed registration of an FIR against Investigator Officer Shahzad Khattak and Station Investigation Officer Arshad Tanoli over negligence and the probe was transferred to another official.

The FIR stated that Imran was made “part of the investigation and was directed to stay at the police lock-up where he with the help of rope committed suicide by hanging himself with a ceiling fan”.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2024