Unfortunate that parents of missing children have to approach court: Bombay High Court

Bombay High Court

Observing that “it is unfortunate that parents of missing or lost children have to approach court”, the Bombay High Court has said that “this only indicates that persons working in the police force are either inefficient or insensitive”.

A division bench of Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharathi Dangre was recently hearing a petition filed by a missing child’s mother. The child had gone missing in 2015. The mother said she had filed a police complaint immediately but the police failed to trace her son prompting her to approach the court in January this year. The Bench said, “In a city like Mumbai, children are exploited and after they are removed from the lawful custody of their parents, they can be forcibly involved in several illegal activities.”

The police claimed they had made various attempts to trace the child. They said they contacted their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh to obtain any information about the child. One of the angles police investigated was that the husband of the petitioner, who had left her and married another woman, might have taken the child to UP where he was believed to be residing with the second wife. The investigating officer informed the court that usually, when the child’s custody cannot be obtained by the father by a legal process, it leads to suspicion that the child may have been taken away by him. He told the court that in the present case, however, the husband was serving in a Gulf country and was not present at the address in UP.

“We are hardly impressed by this report. For all we know, the investigating officer is clueless. There are several ways and means to involve a child in unlawful and illegal activities. The child may have been picked up for forcefully working in some industry or may have been picked up by a gang or group of persons who are either involved in trafficking of drugs or who have set up such activities including establishing a nexus with those who require children to be employed as domestic helps,” said Justice Dharmadhikari.

The Bench directed the deputy commissioner of police, Zone-VI, to file an affidavit specifying the steps taken till date. The matter has been kept for hearing on November 2.