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Judgment
This Habeas Corpus Petition involves disappearance of petitioner’s daughter, namely, Renu alias Rukhsar Begum (hereinafter to the referred
as the missing girl).
Undisputed scenario arising from the record on the file, in particular the status reports submitted by the SHO Police Station, Gandhi Nagar, and on
hearing learned counsel on each side is that after the death of her husband in the year, 2000, the petitioner left the house of her in-laws. Her daughter,
Renu alias Rukhsar Begum was given in marriage by her parents-in-law (grandparents of the missing girl), herein respondents 4 and 5, to one Irshad
S/O Sheikh Mohamad of village, Beily Charana, Jammu on 08.08.2014. On 08.09.2015 the husband of the missing girl lodged a missing report at
Police Station, Gandhi Nagar informing that his wife had left their rental residential room situate at Rampura, Nai Basti in his absence on 13.08.2014
and has not been traced thereafter. This report was registered in the Daily Diary of the Police Station as report No. 06 on 08.09.2015. On 27.10.2015,
petitioner filed this Habeas Corpus Petition before this Court alleging inter alia that her daughter might have been murdered or sold to someone or
might have become victim of trafficking to ‘Arab Country’.Â
The Police has not succeeded in tracing and recovering the missing girl till date. In the latest status report dated 02.04.2018, the SHO Police Station,
Gandhi Nagar has stated inter alia that Sahil Khan, the elder brother of the missing girl, stated before the Police that some hot exchange of arguments
had taken place between his sister and their grandfather and after that his sister had come to the house of their mother at Sari Rakwal, Ghou Manasan
and he had seen her residing with their mother after that. Further it is stated in the status report that the petitioner at one point of time alleged before
the Police that her father-in-law has killed the girl and buried her in his house and installed a Peer Baba on her grave. However, no mortal remains
were found existing when tomb/mausoleum in the house of her father-in-law was exhumed on 25.03.2017 with the permission of the District
Magistrate, Jammu.
The fact of the matter is that the missing girl has not been traced or recovered till date. Some foul play in the matter is evident for the reasons that
her disappearance from the rented room, where she was residing with her husband, was reported to the police by her husband on 08.09.2015, that is,
more than a year after she went missing on 13.08.2014. On the other hand, no effort in the matter seems to have been made by the grandfather of the
girl, with whom she had been residing after the death of her father and who had given her in marriage to Irshad. The matter, as it involves
disappearance of a person in suspicious circumstances, requires thorough investigation, which may necessitate even the lawful and permissible
custodial interrogation of the grandfather and the husband of the missing girl. Following directions, therefore, are issued as this stage:
i) SHO Police Station, Gandhi Nagar shall immediately register FIR under sections 365, 366, 367 and 368 RPC in the first instance,
ii) the Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu shall constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an appropriate police officer, not below
the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, to investigate the case,
iii) the head of the SIT shall take up the investigation with quick dispatch and file status report before this Court on the next date.
List on 24.09.2018.
Petitioner shall produce a copy of this order in the office of SHO Police Station, Gandhi Nagar.