The Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday ordered a Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) enquiry into a case related to a 17-year-old girl from Shanmuganathapuram village in Alangudi taluk of Pudukottai district going missing since May 2012.
Passing interim orders on a habeas corpus petition filed by her father K. Rengasamy, a Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and V.S. Ravi directed the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), CB-CID, to take up the investigation in the case as expeditiously as possible.
The judges also ordered the ADGP to entrust the investigation to a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) attached to Anti-Trafficking Wing and direct the officer to investigate the issue with the assistance of Pudukottai police. The DSP should submit a report in the court by August 14.
The series of directions were issued following apprehensions raised by the petitioner’s counsel, U. Nirmala Rani, that the girl might have been abducted for illegal purposes since many instances were being reported in newspapers of minor girls falling victim to human trafficking.
Recording the government counsel’s submission that the police had so far not investigated the petitioner’s complaint from the human trafficking angle, the judges said they were ordering a CB-CID enquiry since the girl was missing for over two years.