Sobia Batool case: 151 abducted girls recovered by police, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has expressed resentment over police inaction on girls’ abduction cases during the hearing of the Sobia Batool kidnapping case, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

A three-member bench of the top court headed by Justice Maqbool Baqir conducted the hearing of the case related to the abduction of Sobia Batool. Batool had been abducted from Sargodha in November 2021.

The top court issued a two-page short order in the Sobia Batool abduction case in which the Inspector General (IG) Punjab has been directed to submit quarterly progress reports.

During the hearing, the SC was told that 151 abducted girls have been recovered from Sargodha by police. The DPO Sargodha told the court that the girls were kidnapped for sexual crimes.

The court declared the girls’ abductions a failure of the Punjab police department. The Supreme Court judge remarked that the abducted girls could be recovered in a short period but police failed to recover them for a long time. The court observed that there is a need to improve Punjab police performance.

The court expressed hopes for early recovery of Sobia Batool.