The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Court raps police in missing woman case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 25, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Court raps police in missing woman case

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, JAN. 24. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court today came down heavily on the police, the law officer representing the State as well as the petitioners for wasting the time of the court by not helping to dispose of two habeas corpus petitions which have pending for more than nine months.

"We have such worthless police, worthless law officers and the same kind of petitioners," a Division Bench comprising Justice P.D. Dinakaran and Justice S. Ashok Kumar said.

The mother and elder brother of A. Pushpavalli (21), from Thangachiammapatti in Dindigul district had filed two separate petitions to secure the girl alleged to have been kept in illegal custody by her parents-in-law. The petitions were admitted by the principal seat in Chennai on April 22, 2004, and later transferred to the Madurai Bench.

Filing a counter affidavit today, the Additional Public Prosecutor stated that the girl, who was five months pregnant while she went missing, had eloped with her former lover, Kumar, to a place near Visakapattinam in Andhra Pradesh. But, when questioned on the veracity of his claim as to whether it was based on a statement given by any of the witnesses in the case, the lawyer replied in the negative and said, "We presume that she might have eloped."

Later, when the prosecuting lawyer sought two weeks to complete the investigation, the Bench was quick to react, "For the last nine months the matter has been adjourned every two weeks. How many more weeks do you want? Do you think we are sitting here jobless only to grant adjournments?"

Perusing the case diary, the Bench also found that though the woman was last seen in the company of Palanichamy, the police had not apprehended him till date. "Nine months have passed. She was five months pregnant when she went missing and by now she would have delivered the baby and you (police) are not able to trace her. It is very unfortunate to see this kind of investigation, despite expressing our concern to the DGP himself," the Bench said.

The DGP had appeared before the court on January 18 in another case of a missing woman registered by the Kulithalai police in Karur District.

The Bench also criticised the counsel for the petitioners for filing such frivolous petitions as there were numerous allegations against the woman's conduct. "We seriously doubt that the police as well as the petitioners know the whereabouts of the girl and you jointly are staging a drama before the court."

Later, the Deputy Superintendent of Police was directed to interrogate all persons connected with the case, including the petitioners and file a final report on January 28.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu