HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday observed that cases of missing persons were on the increase in society and once someone went missing no clue was found to his whereabouts.

Justices Abdul Maalik Gaddi and Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui made the observation while hearing a petition filed by Suleman Bhand seeking recovery of his brother Abdul Ghafoor Bhand who had been missing for the past two years.

The court fixed hearing of the case for Dec 4 at 11am with directives to Hyderabad Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Naeem Ahmed Shaikh to step up efforts for recovering the missing person and exempted the officer from personal attendance.

The DIG assured the bench that he would direct all SHOs concerned that henceforth if any person disappeared in their jurisdiction, stern action would be taken against them.

Dadu deputy superintendent of police (DSP) submitted details of criminal record of the petitioner Suleman and his relatives which was made part of the court record. The court noted that the joint interrogation team probing the case had held five sessions so far but no clue to the missing person’s whereabouts had been found yet.

The DIG informed the court that the JIT’s sixth session was chaired by Dadu SSP and its report was filed by additional advocate general Sindh which was made part of the record.

About the allegation that DSP Rasool Bux had demanded Rs200,000 from the petitioner, the DIG sought two weeks’ time to get to the bottom of the charge. The court granted him time and the DIG assured that he would make his best efforts to recover the missing person and produce him before the court.

The JIT report recommended that the DIG should constitute a special team comprising senior police officers to investigate the case (FIR No. 16/2016) lodged by the petitioner at B-Section police station, Dadu. Another FIR (49/16) lodged by Ali Asghar, another brother of the missing person, accused some suspects of abducting Ghafoor.

The report said that Suleman stated that DSP Rasool Bux Siyal, then DSP Dadu, had demanded Rs200,000 for the release of Ghafoor and refused to release him when the family failed to pay.

Suleman said in the petition that his brother Ghafoor, a cattle trader, had gone missing on Jan 7, 2016, when he was carrying Rs250,000, a golden chain and ring.

According to Dadu DSP’s report, 11 cases were filed against Ghafoor from 2000 to 2014, 14 cases were lodged against Suleman from 1989 to 2015, 26 cases were registered against Suleman’s son, Farooq from 2010 to 2015 and eight cases were lodged against Ghafoor’s son, Abdul Qadir in 2013.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2018