Court issues search warrant to trace girl taken away by father

The court's order came on an application filed by the wife, Avaneet Kaur, through her counsel Deepak Kumar Sharma under Section 97 (search for persons wrongfully confined) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

It also expressed its displeasure over the "careless" manner of handling of such a "sensitive" issue by the police, which had even failed to secure a photograph of the child to identify her.

"I am constrained to observe that the SHO concerned has disappointed the court by his careless approach to such a sensitive matter. Though SHO claims that efforts were being made to trace the child, however, he admitted in the court that he had not even once bothered to obtain photograph of the girl child.

"I fail to understand as to how without the photograph of the girl child, the SHO shall be able to trace the child as her identity could not be ascertained," Rao said.
Kaur alleged that her husband Ravinder Singh had taken away their daughter without her knowledge on March six and his whereabouts were not known.

Kaur, who got married to Singh on October 17, 2004, was living separately from him as she was turned out from her matrimonial home following harassment.

"Taking into consideration the age of child, the kind of relation and maltreatment meted out to mother and that the husband was not available at his residence, the act of husband amounts to illegal confinement," the court said, issuing search warrant.

In the plea, Kaur said she was forced to approach the court as Nihal Vihar police station had failed to act on her complaint.