The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered notice to the Centre and the State on a habeas corpus petition filed by a woman from Ramanathapuram district. She said her husband, a CRPF jawan, had been missing since October.
A Division of Justices S. Vaidyanathan and G. Jayachandran ordered notice on the petition filed by B. Vanitha of Kidathirukkai near Mudukulathur, who said her husband Balamurugan was posted in Sukma in Chhattisgarh, a Maoist-infested area.
She said her husband had served in Rourkela in Odisha as a constable. Later, he was transferred to Sukma. He came home on leave on October 7. Later, he left for Sukma. On reaching Sukma, her husband contacted her over phone and told her that he had reached safely. But, there was no communication from him after the call and despite being contacted several times, no one responded at the other end.
Under these circumstances, on October 17 she received a call from a person stating that he was an officer and told her that her husband had gone missing, but did not provide any other details.
The CRPF camp should be under CCTV camera surveillance. When this was the case, the petitioner said, the whereabouts of her husband would have been captured on the cameras. She said she had lodged a complaint with the police. But, no steps were taken.
Considering the fact that Sukma was a Maoist-infested area, she apprehended that her husband might have been abducted and illegally detained. She sought a direction to the authorities to secure her husband. The case was adjourned by two weeks.
Recently, the court disposed of a habeas corpus petition filed by a woman who said that her husband, a CRPF jawan, had been missing since 2018. The petitioner, A. Deivakani of Eral in Thoothukudi district, said her husband N. Annadurai was missing from Delhi.
The court took cognisance of the status report filed by the Tamil Nadu police and the communication sent by Delhi police indicating that they were pursuing the man missing complaint independently and when they received clues they would share it with their counterparts.
