HC closes habeas corpus plea, asks police to continue search for missing girl

Bhopal/Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh high court has disposed of a habeas corpus petition filed by a man seeking the recovery of his daughter, who went missing as a 17-year-old in 2016, while directing the police to continue the investigation and produce her before her parents if she is traced.The petition was filed in 2024 by Sitaram Barman. During the proceedings, the court monitored the investigation through status reports submitted by the police over 22 hearings.Observing that the police had made all possible efforts to trace the missing girl, the division bench of acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Vijay Shukla said it was satisfied with the steps taken during the investigation. The bench, however, noted that tracing a person who has been missing for nearly a decade in a country with a population of around 140 crore was an extremely difficult task, particularly when neither the family nor the investigators had any clue about her whereabouts.The court further observed that, in the absence of any lead regarding the girl’s disappearance, it would be difficult for the police to search the entire country. It also remarked that had the petitioner’s daughter been alive, she might have contacted her parents or someone known to them by now, adding that she has since attained the age of majority.Holding that no useful purpose would be served by keeping the habeas corpus petition pending and repeatedly calling for status reports, the bench disposed of the matter. It clarified that the investigation pursuant to the FIR shall continue and directed that if the petitioner’s daughter is traced, she shall be produced before and handed over to her parents in accordance with law.