A judicial magistrate in Karachi on Thursday ordered the inclusion of two siblings Ayaan and Anabiya, who were found after going missing from Karachi’s North Nazimabad area, and their maternal aunt’s names on the Exit Control List (ECL). In its written order, the magistrate ruled that the minors’ aunt Farheen, aka Sonia, could not take the children outside the jurisdiction of the police station. The judicial magistrate central also handed over the custody of the two siblings Ayaan and Anabiya to their aunt. The siblings were presented before the court of the judicial magistrate central by the police in a case of custody filed by their father. The investigating officer of the case said that Ayaan and Anabiya in their statements said their aunt and maternal grandmother used to beat them and that was the reason they left the house.

According to the IO, the kids told a man who found them late at night to drop them off at the Edhi Home, but he was a good man, who took the kids to his home and dropped the kids at the mall in Hyderi on the next day after calling mother of the children. The father’s lawyer said that his client was unaware that the mother had been out of the county for 2 years and added the father was barred from meeting his children. Demanding the punishment for the aunt and uncle, he demanded custody of the kids. The verdict of the case was reserved for a while after the completion of the arguments from both sides. Later, the custody of Ayaan and Anabiya was handed over to their aunt. The aunt was asked to deposit surety bonds of Rs1 million.

Background

Ayaan, 11, and Anabiya, 12, had gone out of their house to buy a burger in North Nazimabad Block H at around 11:50 pm on Tuesday and did not return. According to the senior superintendent of police (SSP) central district, the incident is being investigated from various aspects with the help of CCTV footage. The police said that a case of missing children was registered in North Nazimabad’s police station against unidentified individuals. Later, the mother said in her social media message from Dubai “Shukar Alhamdulillah both the kids are recovered,”. The mother further said, ‘Those who took them, dropped them at Hyderi’. The kids in their initial statement said their ‘aunty and maternal grandmother used to torture them”. Ayaan and Anabiya said they spent a night at the house of an uncle and aunty who found them in the street on Tuesday night.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)