Recovery of minor girl: SC transfers investigation of FIR lodged in UP to Delhi Police

New Delhi

The Supreme Court Tuesday handed over the investigation of acase lodged in Uttar Pradesh, after a 13-year-old girl was missing fromGorakhpur since July 8, to Delhi Police which recently recovered her andarrested the alleged abductor.

A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar transferred the probe and said thatall records related to the case collected by the UP Police be handed over toDelhi Police.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) R S Suri, appearing for Delhi Police, toldthe bench that the girl was recovered and the man who allegedly abducted herwas arrested from Kolkata on September 2 and they were brought here onSeptember 4. After that, the minor was examined at the All India Institute ofMedical Sciences and also given counselling.

Suri told the bench, also comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar,it seems that on July 15 she had married the offending man and she has refusedto go with her mother. He said the girl has been handed over to the GorakhpurPolice as they wanted her custody to present her before the magistrate there.

While arguing that investigation should be handed over to Delhi Police, Suritold the bench that the minor refused to go with her mother as she is upsetwith her parents . Advocate Pai Amit, appearing for the girl's mother who hasfiled a petition seeking directions to the UP Police and Delhi Police to traceher daughter, told the bench her pregnancy test is positive and if somethinghas to be done, it has to be done in an urgent manner.

He said the girl is about 15-16 years old but in her Aadhaar, her age ismentioned as 13. Suri said the girl claims that she is 17-year-old and theAIIMS has referred her to the forensic department for estimation of her age.

We will transfer the investigation to the Delhi Police. That we will doimmediately. But, how should we go thereafter, you should indicate it to us,the bench told the ASG, who said he would discuss the issue and apprise thebench about it.

The bench told the counsel appearing for Uttar Pradesh that it is transferringthe probe to the Delhi Police and if he has any objection to it.

I have no objection. I leave it to my lords, the lawyer said.

After the ASG referred to the report of counselling, the bench said, She hasadmitted sexual assault?

Suri replied in the affirmative after which the bench observed, Something needsto be done about it. The bench, while posting the matter for further hearing onSeptember 14, said in the backdrop of the manner in which the matter proceededbefore it and without recording any finding on the factum of nature ofinvestigation done by the Gorakhpur Police, it is transferring theinvestigation to the Delhi Police.

The investigation of the case shall be carried forward by the Malviya NagarPolice with immediate effect and they must take all necessary steps required toprotect the minor girl from being exposed to any untoward situation, the benchsaid in its order.

The bench said since the girl is not represented before it through a lawyer, itis nominating senior advocate K V Viswanathan to represent her. On September 3,the Delhi Police had informed the top court that the girl was recovered and theman who had allegedly abducted her was arrested from Kolkata.

The top court had on September 1 pulled up Uttar Pradesh Police for its probeinto the case and directed it to forthwith share the investigation report withDelhi Police.

The mother, who works as a domestic help in Delhi, has claimed in her petitionthat her daughter is believed to have been kidnapped from Gorakhpur in UttarPradesh by a man when her family members had gone there to attend a marriageceremony.

An FIR was registered in the case at Gorakhpur.

In her petition, the girl's mother has sought directions for carrying outinvestigation into the disappearance and kidnapping of her daughter and takeappropriate action against those who may be found involved in this.

The habeas corpus petition, seeking to produce the girl before the court, hasalleged that despite an FIR being lodged at Gorakhpur and an attempt being madeto make a complaint with the Delhi Police, no action has been taken to tracethe minor.

It said the man, who is suspected to have kidnapped the girl, was constantlyluring and coaxing her to accompany him.

The mother claimed after an FIR was registered in Gorakhpur, she returned toDelhi and approached a police station where she had complained regarding theman on a previous occasion but the police refused to register or take steps forrecording her complaint about kidnapping of her daughter on the grounds that aprior FIR has already been lodged in Uttar Pradesh.