PEHAWAR: Sargodha Police on Monday claimed to have recovered 151 abducted women in the last one and a half months.
A massive 200-page police report, submitted to Supreme Court, states that the 151 women abducted from different parts of Sargodha were rescued during search for 18-year-old Sobia Batool, who went missing a year and a half ago.
According to the report, a search operation was conducted in the district, following court directions on January 5 last month to rescue Batool. The report added that in this case, the Punjab police chief also issued instructions to other districts and dozens of abducted women were recovered. However, the police yet to recover Batool.
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Sargodha District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Rizwan told the court that they are interrogating suspects arrested but so far they have no clue about her whereabouts. According to the police report, a raid was also carried out in Tibba Gamma area of Bhakkar from where a girl named Yasmeen was rescued who was abducted from Jhang district.
Sobia Batool went missing on August 21, 2020 from Shahpur Saddar police station in Sargodha. Her father Muhammad Ramzan had not named anyone in the First Information Report (FIR). During the preliminary investigation, the police traced the people who were in touch with Sobia through her phone number and arrested an accused Muhammad Umair. The suspect Umair has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court after his bail plea was rejected by the High Court.
Justice Maqbool Baqir was surprise and concern over the report compiled by the police. The judge remarked that the abduction of such a large number of girls from one district was a matter of concern and “incompetence” and “failure” of the police.
The DPO told the court that many of the girls rescued by the police had been abducted on the pretext of marriage. On which Justice Baqir remarked that it was unfortunate that Sobia Batool was not recovered despite the registration of the case in August 2020. The court directed the Punjab police chief to take steps to rescue the abducted girls across the province.