Court hands over custody of Ayan, Anabiya to maternal aunt

A district and session court in Karachi on Thursday ordered to hand over the custody of 11-year-old Anabiya and 12-year-old Ayan to their elder maternal aunt.

The minor siblings were reported missing from Karachi's North Nazimabad area on Tuesday night, but were recovered from the same area after 17 hours on Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Central, Zeeshan Siddiqui, said that the minor siblings left their home on their own due to mistreatment from maternal relatives.

The top officer also claimed the the children have not attended school since the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Police added that the children have not met their mother Shumaila Naz for two years, who has been residing in Dubai for ten years.

Today, the children, their father, and maternal uncles were presented before the Judicial Magistrate Central's court, where their statements were recorded.

The lawyer of the children's father, Zahid Hussain Soomro, said in a court that the children were forced to leave the house as they were being ill-treated by their maternal relatives.

The counsel argued that the children's move has cleared their intention that they don't want to live with their mother's family.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Magistrate Central recorded the statements of the two siblings under Section 164 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

In their statement, Ayan and Anabiya refuted their mother's claim that the children were kidnapped by an unknown person.

The children, in a statement to the court, said that they left the house on their own due to the mistreatment by their younger aunt.

A day earlier after being recovered by police, the minor children accused their maternal aunt of torture and forcing them to clean washrooms.

They urged the court to hand over their custody to the elder aunt, whom with they are living currently.

Later, the court, while handing over custody of the children to the maternal aunt, ordered Sonia to submit two surety bonds of Rs500,000 each.