The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed the Director General of Police, Maharashtra, and the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pune, to initiate proceedings under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to declare a man an absconder after he repeatedly failed to produce his two-year-old child before the court in a habeas corpus plea filed by the child’s mother.
Justice Rajeev Singh, presiding over the vacation bench, also ordered the attachment of the father’s property under Sections 84 and 85 of the BNSS (corresponding to Sections 82 and 83 of the CrPC), emphasizing the urgency of securing his appearance. The matter has been listed for the next hearing on August 1.
The petitioner, the child’s mother, had approached the court last year alleging that the father, originally from Ayodhya and currently residing in Pune, had taken away the child illegally from her lawful custody and denied her access to the infant. She maintained that only she could care for the child due to the child’s age and well-being.
The court expressed strong displeasure over the father’s conduct, noting that although he appeared on some earlier dates, he later began evading the court. Despite multiple directions, he has failed to present the child, prompting the bench to issue a non-bailable warrant (NBW) on a previous occasion. However, when Pune police attempted to execute the NBW, they found the father missing, and a missing person report was filed by his own mother.
The court further ordered the senior registrar to communicate its latest directions to the Maharashtra DGP and the Pune CJM for immediate compliance.
It also emerged that the matter had earlier reached the Supreme Court, which referred the dispute for mediation. However, mediation efforts failed as the father did not participate in the proceedings.
