Girl missing for seven years: Jharkhand HC summons all SPs, IOs posted in Gumla since 2018

Ranchi, May 12 The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday took a strong view on the police investigation in the case of a six-year-old girl who went missing from Gumla district in 2018.

Hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by the child’s mother, Chandramuni Urain, a division bench headed by Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad summoned all Superintendents of Police posted in Gumla since 2018, along with the investigating officers, to appear in person in the court.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the bench warned the state government that if the police continue to fail in tracing the child, the probe would be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

It observed that the absence of any clue, even after nearly seven years, pointed to a serious failure of the police machinery.

The bench noted that despite the matter being under the High Court’s scrutiny, the police have made no tangible progress and have repeatedly sought more time. In such circumstances, the court said transferring the investigation to the CBI would be justified.

At an earlier hearing, the state government had informed the court that a special investigation team was conducting searches across several states and that details had been sought from the Railways regarding the travel history of passengers of the relevant age group in 2018. However, the court expressed dissatisfaction with these submissions.

Terming the prolonged failure to trace the child as deeply disturbing, the High Court also raised serious doubts about the investigative capacity of the police.

In previous hearings, the Director General of Police and the Gumla SP had personally appeared before the court, but no meaningful progress was made.

The court recalled that it had earlier emphasised effective use of data and the formulation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in cases of missing children, but no concrete results have emerged in this case.

The matter has now been listed for further hearing on June 9, when all summoned officers will be required to be present and respond.

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