FAISLABAD: Citizens in Punjab have taken to vigilante justice in the wake of increasing child kidnapping cases in the province.
Citizens on Tuesday caught an alleged kidnapper and handed him over to the police.
They accused him of trying to kidnap an eleven-year-old child.
Citizens staged a demonstration and blocked Narwala Road. They chanted slogans against the police.
In a separate incident in Gujranwala citizens beat up an alleged kidnapper. Video footage available with Geo News shows a mob thrashing the alleged kidnapper.
The accused Naveed is a resident of Chakwal. An FIR against the kidnapper has been registered.
A wave of anxiety has gripped the region following kidnapping of 600 children from Lahore and other parts of Punjab within a short span of time. However, Punjab police has said that most of these children fled from domestic violence.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a suo moto case on missing children in Punjab.
Incidents of missing children from Punjab have been on the rise recently. More than a dozen children went missing from Badami baagh (garden) in the past few months alone. Last week, a child was discovered dead in the same area, who had reportedly been murdered after being tortured.
The police, meanwhile, maintain that not all of the missing children were kidnapped. Additional Inspector General Police Shahzada Sultan, citing statistics, said that during 2015 kidnapping cases of 1,134 children were registered in Punjab, of whom 1,093 were recovered. This year 681 cases have been registered, whereas 640 children have been recovered already.
