On one fine day in 2014, when Azad Singh reached home from work, he found his home ransacked and his 19-year-old daughter neither in the house nor in the vicinity. He did everything to find her but it has been two years since and his daughter’s whereabouts are still unknown.
After police failed to trace her, the distraught father approached the Delhi High Court which transferred the case to Anti-Trafficking Unit for Crime Branch, for a thorough investigation.
This is not a one-off incident as thousands of minor and major girls go missing every year. According to a data presented in the lok Sabha in 2015, 73,242 women remained missing across the country out of which only 33,825 were traced. In the national Capital itself, in 2014, 4,166 minor girls went missing and in 2015, 4,292 went missing.
The hapless father, who is also a retired Indian Army soldier, made several attempts to file complaint about his missing daughter. After filing the complaint for 15 times, police registered an FIR but didn’t take any further action saying that the girl must have gone on her own as she was a major.
According to the call data record of the phone used by the girl, she spoke to one Arun Rana for 55 times before disappearing. Incidentally, Rana is also a relative of Singh’s family.
Azad said police did not try to trace his daughter despite the fact she spoke to Rana over 55 times. He even threatened Azad of dire consequence if he took any action against him. Police closed the case after initial investigations, he alleged.
“If my daughter has married someone or is living peacefully somewhere, then why doesn’t she turn up even after two years and despite the High Court’s direction to produce her before the courtIJ I just want to see that she is safe and happy. She must come back and if she is in danger, police must help us,” said Azad.
Having failed in his efforts to locate his daughter the former army man moved a city court for directions to the Delhi Police in re-opening the case. The court had then ordered a DCP-level enquiry to find the whereabouts of the girl which police subsequently failed to do till date.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Outer district Vikramjit Singh acknowledged that the case could not be worked out. “We conducted a polygraph test on the accused Arun Rana and also on Azad Singh, as we also had a doubt on him, but nothing came out and since then there was no headway in the case. We did everything on our part but we accept that we have not been able to solve this case. Had it been lack of effort on our part, the court would have also passed an adverse order.” said the official.
When police failed to take any action on Magistrate’s order, the devastated father contacted an NGO “Ek Pehchan” which helped him in filing a Habeas Corpus petition in Delhi High Court with the help of a lawyer. The court issued notice to the State, including the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, other police officer and the suspects.
Prashant Manchanda, the lawyer who filed the petition said, “The NGO approached me and I did this case pro bono and the High Court transferred the case to Anti-trafficking Unit, Crime Branch. If the people accused have come out clean, the girl still remains missing and police must find her out.”