The Bombay High Court rapped the Ulhasnagar police on Tuesday for failing to trace a five-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped by his father last year.
The division bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice AR Joshi gave state Director General of Police (DGP) SS Virk two weeks’ time to file a personal affidavit on whether his office would be able to trace the child.
Priti Chhug (26) had approached high court after her husband Bunty (28) allegedly kidnapped their son Sujal on November 24, 2008 — the day he was to hand over his custody to her.
“The state DGP should consider the seriousness of this issue and tell us frankly whether his force will be able to find the [missing] child or not. If he [DGP] says no then we will tell the mother that ‘We are sorry and you [mother] should go to some temple and pray for your child’,” said Justice Nazki.
“If you (police) cannot act, please say so,” he added. “The police force of Maharashtra and the highest court of the state is defied by a single person. This is a reality and it must be faced. We cannot do anything than pass orders, it’s up to the police force to act.”
Priti had filed a habeas corpus (produce the person in court) petition in the high court last November alleging that her father-in-law Shankarlal and brother-in-law Nitin too were involved in the kidnapping.
{{/usCountry}}Priti had filed a habeas corpus (produce the person in court) petition in the high court last November alleging that her father-in-law Shankarlal and brother-in-law Nitin too were involved in the kidnapping.
{{/usCountry}}Additional Public Prosecutor Poornima Kantharia told the court that a CD was sent to Priti and to the court containing telephonic conversations wherein a boy’s voice could be heard in the background.