Kidnapped Minor Girl Untraced For 2 Months : Supreme Court Asks UP Police To Hand Over Investigation Records To Delhi Police

In a case related to the kidnapping of a 13-year old girl from Gorakhpur, who remains untraced for last two months, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to hand over the investigation records to the Delhi police by tomorrow.

The Court also directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to oversee the investigation.

A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar was considering a habeas corpus petition filed by the missing girl's mother, who is suspecting a Delhi-resident to be the kidnapper.

The petitioner's counsel Advocate Amit Pai submitted before the bench that it is highly unfortunate that the girl has not been traced so far. The petitioner is working as a domestic maid in Delhi, and the suspect had been trying to lure and seduce her minor daughter for long. With respect to that, she had lodged a complaint before the Malviya Nagar Police station in Delhi. In July, while the petitioner was with her husband's family at Gorakhpur along with her daughters, the eldest daughter went missing. According to the petition, the younger daughter overheard certain phone conversations between the suspect and her sister, where the former was threatening her with dire consequences if she did not come to his flat in Delhi. Soon after this conversation, the girl went missing.

The petitioner alleged that though a complaint was soon made before the Gorakhpur police, they did not take any prompt steps. In this backdrop, the habeas corpus petition was filed in the Supreme Court, voicing the apprehension that the girl might be sexually abused or be trafficked into sex trade.

The bench expressed unhappiness with the failure of the UP Police in tracing the girl. In response, the counsel for the State of Uttar Pradesh, Advocate Anuvrat Sharma, told the bench that the state police is taking diligent steps and the investigation's pace is affected due to the inter-state ramifications. The girl is now suspected to be in West Bengal and the police has collected the Call Detail Records (CDR), the counsel added.

At this point, the bench said that it will then hand over the investigation either to the CBI or to the Delhi Police. Additional Solicitor General RS Suri, appearing for the Delhi Police, submitted that they are not treating the petition as adversarial.

The bench passed a direction to the  Gorakhpur police to share the entire investigation records to Malviyanagar Police(Delhi) by tomorrow. It also directed the Delhi police commissioner to ensure further investigation to trace out the missing girl.

The matter will be considered next day after tomorrow.

Click here to read/download the order