The HC said it was not inclined to grant a longer period as it was concerned about the wellbeing of Sarkar, a retired Air India staffer, who suffered from dementia, Alzheimer's and other ailments. After the Mumbai Police informed the Bombay High Court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed as per the court’s January 31 directions to trace a septuagenarian woman who had been missing from her Thane house since February 13 last year, the court on Wednesday sought the progress report from the SIT by February 28.
The court said the police should expedite their efforts to trace Uma Shashank Sarkar, 71, whose missing complaint was lodged on February 14, 2021.
On January 31, a division bench of Justice S J Kathawalla and Justice M N Jadhav, while hearing a habeas corpus plea by the woman’s two sons had directed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to constitute an SIT to trace the woman and produce her before it on February 16.
On Wednesday, after the police informed the court that the SIT was formed on February 14, the court expressed displeasure at the slow pace of the probe, pointing out 14 days the police took to form the SIT. The police informed the court that three teams were searching for the missing woman across the country.
The HC said it was not inclined to grant a longer period as it was concerned about the wellbeing of Sarkar, a retired Air India staffer, who suffered from dementia, Alzheimer’s and other ailments.
What provoked the court’s ire was the fact brought to its notice that three days after going missing from Kasarvadavli in Thane, the woman was found in Kalanagar area and was brought to the Kherwadi police station in Bandra (East).
The petitioners said after they enquired with the Kherwadi police, they were told that the cops had gone to petitioner’s old address and were told that the family no longer lived there. According to the plea, the police told the petitioners that they tried to contact some NGOs for shelter, but nothing worked out due to the pandemic. The HC pulled up Kherwadi police station officials for their “negligent” conduct.
The petitioners claimed that their mother was at the police station for nearly 10 hours before she walked out on her own, and the police made no efforts to reunite her with the family.
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