CUTTACK: The father of a minor girl, who was allegedly kidnapped more than five months back in a village within Cuttack Sadar police limits, filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the Orissa High Court on Wednesday seeking direction to the police to rescue her.
In his petition, the 51-year-old man alleged that his 16-year-old daughter was kidnapped in the night of February 18 while she was going to attend nature’s call.
He stated that though a written complaint was filed and a case registered in the local police station on February 19 this year, no action has been taken by the police. He further alleged that though he has been approaching the police time and again fearing for her daughter’s life, the latter are not paying any heed to his apprehension.
In the FIR, the man said he suspected that a 30-year-old person from Jenapada area within Athagarh police limits had kidnapped his daughter. According to the petition, the man had earlier approached National Law University Odisha (NLUO) seeking legal assistance. The Programme Associate of the NLUO’s Centre for Access to Justice had submitted a representation to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cuttack on April 30 seeking his intervention to rescue the girl. But it yielded no result.
The petition has expressed doubts over the manner of investigation adopted and suspicion that ‘no tangible steps have been taken by the police to trace the girl’.