The Hindu : Front Page : "Lethargic" attitude of police shocks Bench

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 21, 2005

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Front Page

"Lethargic" attitude of police shocks Bench

Staff Reporter

For not registering a boy missing case

MADURAI: Expressing anguish over the "lethargic attitude" of the Kailyakavilai police in Kanyakumari district in not registering a minor boy missing case even after nine years of lodging a complaint, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered to place the matter before the Director General of Police for necessary action against all the inspectors, who manned the police station from 1996.

Passing orders on a habeas corpus petition, a Division Bench comprising Justice D. Murugesan and Justice A.C. Arumuga Perumal Adityan made it clear that the inspectors should be given a due opportunity to explain their stand before initiating any action.

The Bench observed that the petitioner, Gnana Soundari (55) of Kuzhithurai, preferred a complaint with the police on September 8, 1996 seeking to trace her 15-year-old son, Edwin Soundararaj alias Binu. Pointing out that her husband had contested the Municipal election, she had alleged that two of his political rivals might have abducted her son.

But the police did not initiate action and hence, she preferred a complaint with the Superintendent of Police on November 29, 1996, followed by another on December 15, 2000.

Tired of pleading before the law-enforcing agency, she filed the habeas corpus petition and the Bench ordered notice to the police on July 12, 2005. Immediately after receiving the notice, the police registered a case on August 7 and filed a status report before the Bench.

Since the police failed to explain the initiatives taken to trace the missing boy, except publishing his photograph in newspapers pursuant to receiving three complaints, the Bench said: "We are constrained to express our anguish over the lethargic approach of the policemen." The Bench directed the present incumbent in the station to take effective steps in the case because the petitioner claimed that there was reliable information that her son might have been "sold" in North India.

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