With each passing days, we hear horrifying stories about some grave and serious crimes happening in our society. The worrisome trend is that these offenses are not limited to young male or females, but also affecting innocent children. One such crime against children is Abduction. In this article, we will discuss the offense of abduction and the punishment for the same with the help of best criminal law firm of Dubai.What is Abduction?
In simple terms, abduction can be understood as taking away someone forcibly against his/her will. The abduction is defined under Federal Law No. 3 of 1987 (UAE Penal Code) as taking a person away by means of persuasion, fraud or force. In case of children, it is an act of unlawful interference as the permission of the parent/guardian is not taken. Since a child is a minor, his/her consent is not taken into consideration for the purpose of this offense.
Punishment for Child Abduction
The punishment for child abduction is provided under Article 344 of the UAE Penal Code. As per the aforesaid Article, a fine and imprisonment shall be imposed on a person whoever illegally kidnaps, arrests, detains or deprives someone from the freedom by any means by himself or with the assistance of any intermediary.
However, in the following cases, the punishment shall be life imprisonment-
- If the accused committed the offense by impersonating himself as public servant or public officer;
- If the act is performed with the use of physical force, threat of killing, and other psychological torture;
- If the act is perpetrated by two or more armed persons;
- If the period of unlawful detention or kidnapping has exceeded one month;
- If the victim is of female sex, a juvenile, an insane or imbecile person.
- If the accused has committed the offense with mala fide intentions, such as rape of the victim, disgracing him or taking revenge.
However, it is important to note that if the act resulted in the death of the victim, the perpetrator shall be punished with death penalty.
Parental child abduction
With increasing divorce and breakage of sacred marriage relationship, this type of abduction is gaining popularity, and lots of incidents are occurring of the similar nature. The concept of parent child abduction can be understood with the help of simple example.
Suppose, an Indian male and a British female married with each other, and have a 5-year-old offspring. After their divorce, the custody of the child is given to the mother. The mother is residing in the UAE, and the father meets their son frequently. However, on one such visit, the father took the son back to India without informing the mother. Since, this act if committed without the knowledge of the mother, it constitutes an offense of parental child abduction in UAE
The UAE penal code provides for the punishment of this offense and the aggrieved parent can obtain an order from the court imposing a travel ban on their minor children. As suggested by best criminal lawyer of UAE. this travel ban shall be effective on all the airports of the country in order to protect the children from leaving the country without permission
Conclusion
The offense of child abduction is punishable with harsh punishment, which can be extended up to life imprisonment or death penalty in grave circumstances. If you are subject to such a crime, it is advisable to take assistance of best criminal lawyer of Dubai. BSB legal is specialised law firm of UAE having best criminal lawyers with in-depth experience in this field.