Daijiworld Media Network - Kalaburagi (SP)

Kalaburagi, Jul 20: A bench of the state high court (HC), taking note of the fact that the station house officer of a rural police station in the district had neither registered first information report nor taken any action to find out the missing girl, even after two months since a complaint was filed about the girl having been kidnapped by a married Muslim man, condemned his inaction in strong words. It noted that the sub-inspector of the station has been threatening the parents of the girl.

The HC bench ordered the station house officer to produce the girl in question in the high court by July 24 at any cost.
The mother of a 19-year-old girl from Akhandahalli within Yadrami police station limits had complained to Yadrami police station, informing the police that Ameen Patel from the neighbouring Saidapur village had abducted her daughter at midnight on May 3 this year. The station house officer reportedly had refused to register the first information report initially. After pressure was built on him by various quarters, he had registered a first information report.

But thereafter he did not take any action either to arrest the culprit or entrust the girl back to her parents. The officer said to the parents of the girl that both the married man and the girl were in Mumbai, and asked them to arrange for car to go there. As the police resorted to delaying tactics, the parents of the girl filed habeas corpus petition in the HC.

It is said that Ameen Patel already has married a lady named Farzana and thereafter enticed a Hindu girl to accompany him. Locals say that this is a Love Jihad case.

Justices K N Phaneendra and L Narayanaswamy, who heard the petition, condemned the police for their inaction in no uncertain words. The bench mandated the police to produce the girl on July 24 without fail. The bench wanted to know from the police where else can helpless people go if the police refuse to come to their help. It wanted to know why the police did not do anything to locate the girl after the first information report was registered.

Kalaburagi district superintendent of police, Shashikumar, said that steps would be taken to produce the girl before the high court as per its orders.