Pramod Kumar and another vs Rajesh Joshi and others

B.A. Zaidi, J.—A lady had eloped with respondent Nos. 1 and 2. The FIR about the same was lodged by, petitioner Pramod Kumar on 22.11.2004 at P.S. Kotwali, District Auraiya but the lady has not yet been recovered and her brother has come to this Court with the Habeas Corpus Petition for direction to the Police to recover his sister.

Heard Sri Kailash Nath Kesarwani, Advocate for the petitioner and Sri N.D. Rai, Additional Government Advocate for the State.

The petition came up earlier before Hon''ble Mr. Justice Vinod Prasad, who passed the following order on 20.11.2006 :

"Affidavit of the Superintendent of Police, Auraiya who has been filed today by learned Government Advocate, is taken on record. S.P. Auraiya is personally present in this Court. He assures the Court that he is making all efforts to trace out the girl. He further submitted that respondent No. 1 Rajesh Joshi is already married. He has got four children. Petitioner No. 2 Kumari Dolly is eloping with him. The S.P. Auraiya is directed to trace them out and arrest them by making all possible efforts. As soon as they are arrested, S.P. Auraiya is directed to get them on remand and produce them before this Court within twentyfour hours. As soon as the aforesaid persons are arrested, S.P. Auraiya will intimate this Court through fax. As soon as the intimation is received, Registrar of this Court will place this case as an unlisted case before the appropriate Bench on the following day on which date the aforesaid two persons will be produced before this Court under custody.

List this case before the appropriate Bench on 4th January, 2007. S.P. Auraiya need not be present on the next date unless and until specifically ordered by this Court.

Sd Justice Vinod Prasad 20.11.2006"

Subsequently, it came thrice before Hon''ble Mr. Justice V.K. Chaturvedi, who passed the following order on 12.4.2007:

"Heard Sri K.N. Kesarwani, Counsel for the petitioner, Sri G.P. Dixit, Counsel for the respondents Nos. 2, 4 and 5 and A.G.A.

Earlier process under sections 82, 83, Cr.P.C. have already been issued against the respondent No. 1, Rajesh Joshi.

On 20.11.2006, S.P. Auraiya was present in Court. He assured the Court that he is making efforts to trace out the girl. The petitioner No. 2, Km. Dolly is eloping with him. S.P. Auraiya was directed to trace them out and arrest them by making all possible efforts. As soon as they are arrested, S.P Auraiya was directed to get them on remand and produce them before this Court within twenty four hours, in spite of this order, no progress report was filed by S.P. Auraiya.

Inspite of assurance given by S.P. Auraiya, Rajesh Joshi, respondent No. 1 has not yet been arrested and Km. Dolly, the corpus, who is with him, has not been recovered. S.P. Auraiya is hereby directed to be present in person on 2nd May, 2007 and will make all possible efforts to trace out the corpus and will produce him before this Court. Let a copy of this order be issued to A.G.A.

Sd Justice V.K. Chaturvedi

12.4.2007".

On 2.5.2007

"One counter affidavit filed by Surya Kant Dwivedi the Investigation Officer and another counteraffidavit filed by Surya Nath Singh, Superintendent of Police, Auraiya, are taken on record. The Investigation Officer and the Superintendent of Police, Auraiya are present in Court.

The Superintendent of Police states that he is trying his best to recover the corpus Dolly but whereabouts of Rajesh Joshi are not known. He further stated that he has not sent the photograph of Rajesh Joshi for telecasting in the daily news channel about the missing of Rajesh Joshi. He also states that a two team has been constituted and as soon as Dolly is tracedout, she will be produced before this Court for which he prays for and is granted four weeks more time."

List this case again on 24th May, 2007. In the meantime, Superintendent of Police is hereby directed to do his best to recover the corpus, Dolly and will produce her before this Court. If the corpus is recovered, she will be produced before the Magistrate concerned and thereafter she will be produced before this Court by moving application for prepond the date. If the girl is recovered, the I.O. is directed to be present in person and the Superintendent of Police need not appear. If the girl is not recovered, the Superintendent of Police and I.O. are directed to be present in person on the next date.

Let a copy of this order be issued to A.G.A.

Sd. Justice V.K. Chaturvedi 2.5.2007".

On 24.5.2007.

"Jitendra Sonkar, S.P. Auraiya and Ram Avtar Shukla, the I.O. are present in Court.

An affidavit has been filed by the Superintendent of Police along with progress report in which he prays six weeks more time to trace out the corpus.

As prayed, six weeks more time is allowed to S.P. Auraiya. It is expected that the Superintendent of Police will do the best at his end and will produce corpus on 16th July, 2007 before this Court. List on 16th July, 2007. If the girl is recovered, the S.P. need not appear and if the girl is not recovered the S.P. and the I.O. are directed to be present in person. Let a copy of this order be issued to A.G.A.

Sd. Justice V.K. Chaturvedi 24.5.2007."

Then, it came before Hon''ble Mr. Justice Ajai Kumar Singh on 16.7.2007 and passed the following order was passed :

"Sri Jitendra Sonkar, S.P. Auraiya and Vimal Kant Misra S.I. Investigating Officer are present in person. I.O. has stated that the previous I.O. has been transferred and he has taken over very recently. Learned A.G.A. prays that four weeks time be granted to I.O. to enable him to produce the girl. S.P. Auraiya gave assurance that he will provide all the assistance to I.O. for tracing out the corpus.

List on 20th August, 2007.

On that date the I.O. is directed to appear in person and produce the corpus before the Court along with the progress report. Personal presence of S.P. Auraiya is dispensed with. A copy of this order may be given to A.G.A, within 2 days.

Sd. Justice Ajai Kumar Singh.

16.7.2007."

Thereafter, it came before Mr. Justice G.P. Srivastava on 11.10.2007, who passed the following order :

"The I.O. S.I. Sri B.S. Puniya is present in the Court. He has submitted the progress report. It has been stated that he has made all possible efforts to trace out the corpus but no specific due is available. Petitioner No. 1 is also present in the Court. He has stated that the Police is working under the political influence. The I.O. is directed to take all help of the petitioner in order to trace out the corpus.

List on 16.11.2007.

On the said date, the I.O. will produce the corpus or the progress report as the case may be.

A copy of this order be delivered to learned A.G.A. in three days.

Sd. Justice G.P. Srivastava, J.

11.10.2007."

Lastly, it came before Hon''ble Mr. Justice Shiv Shanker on 16.11.2007 and the following order was passed :

"The Investigation Officer is present. He submitted the progress report by way of filing IVth supplementary counteraffidavit but the corpus has not been produced. He submitted that he has traced the corpus at Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Dibiyapur, Pukhrayan, Kanpur Dehat, Village Ramgohani, P.S. Alipur but no specific clue is available. On the other hand, learned Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the corpus has not been tracedout for about two years.

The Investigating Officer is directed to take help from the petitioner in order to trace out the corpus also.

List on 7.1.2008.

On that day, the Investigating Officer will produce the corpus and present in person with further progress report, as the case may be. Copy of this order be given to the learned A.G.A. free of costs within three days.

Sd. Justice Shiv Shanker.

16.11.2007."

It appears that earnest efforts have been made by the Police for recovery of the lady but her whereabouts could not be discovered.

India is a big country with the population of 108 crores and if Rajesh or Lalla are hiding in a remote corner of the country, there is no much that the Police could ''do.

The petition had a long run since the year 2005. It now be filed for good.

File Consigned.