MOVAR ISHUBBHAI HARUNBHAI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Habeas Corpus petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred by the petitioner with a prayer to direct the respondents to produce his daughter, Taslimbanu, before this Court.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that his daughter is a minor and was aged about sixteen years and three months when she went missing. On 17.05.2017, when he had gone for labour work as per his routine, his wife telephoned him at 11:30 AM, informing him that Taslimbanu could not be found at home and her bag containing clothes was missing. The petitioner rushed home and started the search for his daughter, but to no avail. The friends, relatives and people from the vicinity also joined the search but the corpus could not be found. The petitioner came to know, upon inquiry, that respondent No.5 has kidnapped and abducted the corpus against her will and desire. An FIR dated 22.05.2017 was registered at Morbi City 'B' Division Police Station, being C.R. No.I?31/2017, for offences punishable under Sections 363 and 366 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. As no trace of the corpus was found, the petitioner has approached this Court.

(3.) Rule was issued in the petition on 10.11.2017, making it returnable on 22.11.2017. The Police personnel commenced the search for the corpus and filed an Action Taken Report but the corpus could not be found.