Orissa HC dismisses woman's habeas corpus plea to trace daughter
CUTTACK: The Orissa HC has dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by a woman seeking the whereabouts of her adult daughter, holding that the latter had voluntarily chosen to live independently and was not under any illegal detention.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman ruled that the writ of habeas corpus cannot be invoked when a major individual has consciously decided to live separately and is not under wrongful confinement. “The writ in the nature of habeas corpus cannot be used as a tool for fishing out and/or gathering evidence,” the bench observed while rejecting the plea. The petitioner had approached the court claiming that the family had been unable to ascertain the whereabouts of her daughter, in her early 20s, for over a year and that they were concerned about her safety.
However, the court noted that the woman had appeared before a police station in Cuttack in 2024 and informed authorities that she did not wish to live either in her matrimonial home or with her parents, and that she was capable of sustaining herself independently.
As per the order, the woman had married earlier but left her matrimonial home a few months after marriage in 2024. The court was also informed that legal proceedings between the couple were already pending before a civil court - a petition for restitution of conjugal rights filed by the husband and a divorce petition filed by the woman. While acknowledging the concerns of the petitioner as a mother, it emphasised that an adult individual has the autonomy to make personal choices about where to live.