The Madras High Court Bench here has directed the police to prosecute a law student accused of kidnapping a minor girl, stalking her even after she was rescued and filing a habeas corpus petition with a false claim of having married her besides accusing her parents of having taken her away forcibly.
Dismissing the petition filed by the student pursuing his law course in a college at Bengaluru, a Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran directed Poovanthi police in Sivaganga district to reopen a case registered against him under Section 366A (inducing a minor girl to elope) of Indian Penal Code and file a final report.
They also imposed a cost of Rs.1,000 on the petitioner for filing the petition with false claims and directed him to pay the money to the High Court Legal Services Authority within 15 days.
“We are impelled to direct the police to re-open the investigation... The Inspector of Police shall investigate the same thoroughly and file an appropriate report,” they added.
The petitioner had filed the case claiming that the girl was 19 years old and that he married her on July 14 before she was forcibly taken away by her parents. The girl denied the claim when she was produced before the judges and said that her entire future had been spoiled because of the false claim of marriage between her and the petitioner.
Expressing her wish to stay with her parents, the girl said that the HCP had been filed to harass her by suppressing many crucial facts.
