A US federal court has permitted a lawsuit by New York-based parents who claim negligence and emotional distress after their minor daughter was taken from Pakistan to the US without their knowledge. Senior US District Judge Frederic Block denied the government’s request to dismiss the case, allowing the parents’ claims to proceed. The lawsuit involves allegations against the United States, the City of New York, officials from the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, and a private child welfare agency.
The parents, Mussarat Bano and Bashir Rahee, assert that officials mishandled their daughter’s case and kept them uninformed for weeks after she returned to the US. The minor, identified as FB, a US citizen, contacted US consular officials in Pakistan in June 2020, alleging abuse by her family. With US officials’ help, she left her family in Pakistan on June 23, 2020, arriving in the US on June 26. The parents were unaware of her whereabouts until July 20, 2020, when they were informed by New York State police that she was back in New York.
The Justice Department’s request to dismiss the case was rejected by Judge Block, who found the parents’ claims were not barred under exceptions to the Federal Tort Claims Act. The court ruled that the parents had plausibly alleged tortious acts occurring in the US, not in Pakistan. Additionally, the court disagreed with the government’s argument that officials were protected by the FTCA’s due care exception, stating that the Privacy Act did not mandate withholding information about the child’s location.
