The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the failure of police to recover a large number of abducted girls, as Inspector General (IG) Police Abdul Karim and other senior officers appeared before the court.
Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, while hearing a petition filed by Salma Bibi regarding the recovery of her daughter Muqaddas Bibi, voiced dissatisfaction over the police report and observed that many abducted girls remain untraced.
“The primary responsibility of the police is to recover abducted girls, but the institution appears to be failing in fulfilling this duty,” the chief justice remarked.
During the hearing, the IG Punjab informed the court that a report covering the past five years had been compiled on court directions. According to the report, from 2021 to 2025, as many as 105,244 cases of women’s abduction were registered, while a total of 105,571 women were reported abducted.
The report stated that 70,773 cases were registered under Section 365-B and 34,471 under Section 496-A. It further revealed that 80,706 cases were dismissed based on the statements of the victims, while challans in 20,613 cases were submitted to courts. At present, 3,864 cases are under investigation. The IG told the court that 612 women had been recovered so far, whereas 3,258 were still missing.
Expressing concern over the figures, the chief justice questioned why such a large number of girls could not be recovered. In response, the IG cited administrative challenges. However, the court rejected the explanation, stating that resolving administrative issues was the police’s own responsibility and negligence in this regard was unacceptable.
Showing displeasure over the police’s performance, the court ordered an immediate review of investigation officers who failed to recover abducted girls and directed that those responsible be identified and proceeded against. It also instructed that officers with poor performance should not be assigned investigation duties in the future.
The court directed the special team to submit a comprehensive report at the next hearing.
The petitioner, Salma Bibi, had approached the high court in 2022 for the recovery of her daughter.
The hearing was adjourned till June 1, with the court granting exemption from personal appearance to the IG Punjab for the next date.