Bombay HC Orders Police To Produce Missing 13-Year-Old Girl Traced To West Bengal By July 3, Pulls Up Cops For Inaction

Mumbai: Taking note of alleged police inaction in tracing a 13-year-old girl missing since January, the Bombay High Court has directed the police to produce her in the court on July 3.

The court passed the direction while hearing a habeas corpus (produce person in court) petition filed by the girl’s father, who claimed the police failed to act despite an FIR being registered soon after her disappearance.

A bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Shyam Chandak issued the direction after Additional Public Prosecutor Sharmila Kaushik informed the court that the girl was last traced to West Bengal, but a police team sent there was unable to locate her.

An FIR was registered at the Nirmal Nagar police station on January 7, 2025, under Section 137(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Kaushik informed the bench that the “investigation is going on in the right earnest”. However, she said that the girl has left with her friend and he is avoiding to cooperate.

The father, a medical salesman and father of five, said his daughter left their Bandra home on January 5 around 3 pm without informing anyone. When she failed to return by night, the family began inquiring with neighbours and relatives. His elder daughter later learnt that the missing girl had gone to Marine Drive with two friends. One of them returned and told the family they had also visited Chowpatty and then parted ways at Bandra railway station. He claimed to have no information about the girl or the other friend.

The following day, the father lodged a police complaint. In June, he approached the high court through advocate Brijesh Shukla alleging inaction by the police. In response, the police claimed that the girl had left voluntarily as she was being beaten at home — an allegation the father vehemently denied.

The court has issued notices to the respondent State, while scheduling the plea for hearing on July 3. It has also directed that the girl be produced before it that day.

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There was communal tension in the area after the girl went missing and the parents sought help from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists.