The Patna High Court has asked the Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to clarify in a counter-affidavit the matter of keeping a minor girl in the police station for 3 days even after recovery. The court expressed surprise that after the statement was recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, how did the Judicial Magistrate of Patna send the minor girl to police custody?
On Wednesday, the division bench of Chief Justice Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S.K. Kumar was hearing the case. The Court observed that after the statement, the minor girl should have been sent to the shelter home or to her parents.
During the hearing, the SSP told the court that the girl was recovered and kept in the police station. On this matter, the court expressed surprise and asked under which provision was the girl kept in the police station? To this, the SSP said that she was kept in the officers’ quarters in the police station premises, as she had threatened the parents with life.
The court held that in the statement, the girl also said that she wants to stay with her parents. The court questioned that if the girl was in danger of life, why she was not sent to the shelter home? The court directed the SSP to clarify the situation by filing an affidavit in this regard. The matter will be next heard on January 4.
The girl went missing from the Pataliputra police station area on June 22. The father filed a case against Sinku Yadav, the driver of a former IAS officer, at the police station on 1 August. Sinku was accused of driving the girl away. After a search, the girl was not found. Then, the father filed an application in the High Court.
On December 14, the court ordered Patna SSP to recover the girl child. Following the court order, the police recovered Sinku Yadav and the girl from Darbhanga on December 20.