The inspector-general of Punjab, Rao Sardar Ali Khan, made a shocking revelation in the Supreme Court on Wednesday: the Punjab police have failed to trace nearly 300 women abducted/missing in the province.
On Wednesday, the top court resumed hearing the Sobia Batool case. The 18-year-old woman mysteriously went missing in Sargodha last year. An FIR was registered at the Shahpur police station on August 28, 2020, under the provisions of kidnapping. Earlier this year, a man was arrested in the case but the police failed to recover Batool.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin led the proceeding.
“It has been a year. There’s no sign of the girl. Where is she?” Justice Amin inquired. Rao Sardar remained silent. He didn’t have an answer. When questioned again, he revealed that the police had no clue of hundreds of missing and abducted women in Punjab.
His comments shocked the judges. “IG sahab! You have been given a huge responsibility by the state and nation,” Justice Baqar emphasised.
Justice Amin, on the other hand, remarked that the investigation methods used by the police are outdated. “Even in this case, the investigation began way too late. Had there been a single responsible SHO, we would have found the woman.”
The judges, consequently, instructed the IG to oversee all the cases of kidnappings himself and granted him another month to find Sobia Batool.
