The Jharkhand High Court on Monday issued a stern warning to the state government, setting a strict two-week deadline to provide definitive information on the whereabouts of a minor girl from Gumla who has been missing for nearly seven years. The court cautioned that if “concrete progress” is not demonstrated within this period, it may transfer the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A division bench comprising Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad issued the order while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Chandramuni Urain. The petitioner’s daughter, who was six years old at the time, went missing in September 2018.
During the proceedings, the court expressed deep dissatisfaction with the “tardy pace” of the police investigation. Despite the girl being missing since 2018, law enforcement has failed to produce any significant leads regarding her location.
The bench directly questioned the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Gumla on the current status of the probe, noting that seven years is an unacceptable timeframe for an investigation to remain at a standstill.
The court was informed that a Special Investigating Team (SIT) had been constituted specifically to track down the child. As part of their efforts, the team travelled to Delhi following potential leads, but the mission proved unsuccessful.
While the police have circulated the victim’s photographs and uploaded her details across various digital portals, these measures have yielded no results. Interestingly, the investigation into this case did lead to a secondary success: while searching for the minor, the police managed to recover nine other missing children from different parts of the state. However, the petitioner’s daughter remains untraced.
This is not the only case where the Jharkhand High Court has taken a hardline stance on missing children. The bench noted that in a separate matter involving a missing girl from Bokaro, the court has passed similarly strict directions to the state and police authorities to ensure the victim is found.
With the two-week clock now ticking, the state government must provide a substantial update or face the prospect of a federal agency taking over the local police’s jurisdiction.
