DWARKA PRASAD Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This habeas corpus petition has been filed by one Dwarka Prasad who came up with a case that her daughter Vedwati Kumari Sharma whose age is stated to be 13 years, has been missing ever since March 2001 for which an FIR No. 44/2001 was registered under Section 363 and 379 of the IPC. The accused who is alleged to have kidnapped the girl is Rajesh Sharma- respondent No. 3 herein. If appears that the police did not take any action to trace out the girl nor submitted the charge-sheet in FIR No. 22/2001. The father of the abducted girl was therefore compelled to file this habeas corpus petition for tracing out her daughter, on which a show cause notice was issued by this Court. After practically this court monitpred the investigation of the afored said FIR, the abducted girl Vedwati Kumari Sharma has been produced in this Court although only three days back on 26.11.2001, the respondents were not in a position to inform the whereabouts of this girl to this Court.

(2.) It is unfortunate that this Division Bench of the High Court which is primarily meant to hear the appeals against convictions has to engage itself in monitoring the investigation of the cases based on first information reports lodged at the police Station which investigation should be carried out without any interference and without seeking any direction from a court of law. However, since the FIR of such nature very often does not reach to any conclusion either way in the sense that neither charge-sheets are submitted nor final reports are submitted, the hapless informants generally have to move habeas corpus petitions due to the police in action. It is needless to point out that the investigation of the cases based on police report ought to be carried out by the concerned police officer without monitoring agency of any kind even if it to be the superior Court but we notice that this is not normally the situation as in the instant case, the abducted girl could be traced out with almost lightening speed within a period of three days only when this court took a tough attitude against the respondents. We are thus compelled to infer that the girl could have been traced out even without the court direction but for the in action of the respondents. We deprecate this situation for time and again, the Division Bench of a High Court has to keep on chasing the police investigation directing the police Officers to conduct their job with sincerely and speed. It is expected of them to be vigilant and conduct the investigation even without any direction or interference of the Court thereby not creating a situation where a citizen is compelled to move a court of law for a relief which in act can be availed by them if only the cases are duly registered and investigations are diligently carried out. It is perhaps relevant to emphasizes that habeas corpus petitions are not meant for the High Court to monitor police investigations as that is the bounden duty of the police being the investigating agency without any interference of law courts and the High Court is certainly not meant to be treated as an executing Court for enforcing investigation of the cases which are registered by entertaining petitions of habeas corpus as habeas corpus petitions are certainly not meant to moniter police investigation. We say no more at this stage expecting the investigating officers to ensure that they may not provoke the informants to file habeas corpus petitions merely for a direction to the investigating officers to execute their job which is their duty to discharge in the normal course without a direction from any court.

(3.) Happily, the alleged detenu Vedwati Kumari Sharma in the instant case has been finally traced out and hence her statement be recorded by the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) in course of the day in case it comes out that she was a major and had eloped voluntarily with Rajesh Sharma and that she had not been kidnapped by Rajesh Sharma, it will be open for the respondents to initiate action against Dwarka Prasad as to why he had lodged a false report of abduction when her daughter was major and had left voluntarily alongwith Rajesh Sharma, provided it is established that the detenu Vedwati Kumari Sharma was a major at the time when she dis-appeared.