Karachi: Law need to be reformed for reporting of missing and separated children at police station level to prevent abuse and exploitation of missing children.
According to an assessment of the child rights NGO Roshni Helpline majority of parents and families are unable to get the police help in search and recovery of their missing and separated children because of deficiency in the law. The assessment is based on interviews of walk-in clients, who include parents and children care givers.
It is irony to note that the missing of children is not considered cognizable offence; therefore police do not investigate theses cases. “The cases of missing children are noted down in the daily diary commonly known as Roznamcha or register number two,” Muhammad Ali, President Roshni Helpline said. “All matters of routine are noted down in this diary. For example, report of lost ID cards and other documents are noted down.”
All these crimes fall into non-cognizable offences. It means that police do not have legal jurisdiction to investigate such matters with prior permission of a qualified magistrate. A simple message is run over the wireless, which is simultaneously heard by all police officials on patrol. “This also provides an excuse to police for not investigating the cases of missing or separated children.” Ali said.
“The section 55 of Criminal Procedure Code of Pakistan (CrPC) does not allow the police take cognize of information provided to them under this section. The section “155”. Information as to non-cognizable cases and investigation of such cases. (1) When information is given to an officer in charge of a police station of the commission within the limits of such station of a non-cognizable offence, he shall enter or cause to be entered the substance of the information in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf, and refer, the informant to the Megistrate. (2) No police officer shall investigate a non-cognizable case without the order of a Magistrate having power to try such case or commit the case for trial. (3) Any police officer receiving such order may exercise the same powers in respect of the investigation (except the power to arrest without warrant) as an officer in charge of a police station may exercise in a cognizable case. (4) Where a case relate to two or more offences of which at least one is cognizable, the case shall be deemed to be a cognizable case, not-withstanding that the other offences are non-cognizable.”
According to the Roshni Helpline assessment many children who are reported as missing become victims of all sorts of abuse, exploitation including sexual abuse and harassment, and more alarming murdered. If police is given jurisdiction and made to consider the cases of missing children as an FIR and investigate promptly, many children could be searched and recovered safely.
“It is the basic flaw in the law on reporting of missing children which increases the vulnerability of missing children to various crimes, and make the families handicapped in getting due and timely help from police,” President Roshni Helpline said.
It is high time these laws should be revisited and reformed and missing of children is considered as crime so that a timely action by police will prevent these children from exploitation and crimes committed against them.
The responsibility on the part of government and legislatures to reform the laws increases manifold in the context of ratification of many international legal instruments on protection and safety of children by Pakistan. These laws, for example, United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child (UNCRC) cannot be implemented on the merit and in its spirit unless government changes the law on reporting of missing children. It is very important that the government brings the local laws at par with these international instruments to make the protection and safety of children really meaningful. There is no use signing of these instruments, otherwise, Ali added.
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