Married Man Lures Young Girl To Elope: Gujarat High Court Directs Him To Reimburse 50% Expenses Incurred By Police In Tracing Them

The Gujarat High Court recently asked a man to reimburse 50% expenses incurred by the Police department in tracing a girl he had lured to elope, despite being married himself.

The Bench comprising Justice Sonia Gokani and Justice Mauna Bhatt observed,

"We need to particularly record that here is a case where the respondent no.4 knowing fully well his own marital status, has lured the girl and his repeated actions of such nature has not only made it extremely difficult for the parties but, because of that, the Police had to work for long many hours and after about 7 months, the corpus could be traced."

Noting that the agency had spent 17,710 man-hours over 7 months and 19 days, incurring cost of Rs. 1,17,500/- in the process, it ordered the Respondent-man to pay 50% of the said amount which shall be sum of Rs. 55,000/-.

The amount has to be deposited with the High Court Registry within four weeks. If not done, the same shall be recovered in accordance with law and Registrar (Judicial) shall bring it to the notice of court, action of contempt for disobedience can also be initiated.

The direction was passed in a habeas corpus petition moved by the girl's father. On being traced, the girl expressed regret over her association with the Respondent and showed inclination to join her parents. Accordingly, the Court ordered that she be sent her with the parents, who have ensured the best possible treatment for her and also assured to continue her studies.

During the proceedings, it also came to light that the Respondent had eloped earlier with two other girls even as he was married and had a child. He had exploited/ taken advantage of young girls with various affairs and then would elope with them. In the instant case, he lured the young girl such that it took the police 7 months to trace her.

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