The Allahabad High Court issued a scathing rebuke to the Uttar Pradesh Police for detaining an eight-month pregnant woman and her two-year-old child at a police station for over six hours under the guise of recording her statement in a 2021 kidnapping case.
The Bench of Justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Subhash Vidyarthi condemned the conduct of the Investigating Officer (IO), describing it as a blatant misuse of authority. They ordered the state to compensate the woman with ₹1 lakh, acknowledging the emotional and physical distress inflicted upon her.
The ordeal unfolded when police detained the woman in connection with an old kidnapping case filed by her brother in 2021. At the time, she was a 21-year-old student who had gone missing after leaving for an exam in Agra. Unbeknownst to her family, she had married her partner the following day, leading to the registration of a kidnapping case against him.
Despite the passage of three years, little progress had been made in the investigation until recently, when a new IO, Sub Inspector Anurag Kumar, took over. Kumar claimed his actions stemmed from a directive to expedite pending cases, but the court found his explanations inadequate and his methods deeply troubling.
The Bench highlighted glaring lapses, including the absence of the IO’s case diary, the lack of male family members during the police visit, and the decision to transport the woman and her child to the station without proper justification. The court termed the investigation a “sham” and criticized the IO for failing to exercise basic judgment, such as confirming the woman’s age and marital status, which could have promptly resolved the case.
The court expressed particular concern over the risks posed to the woman and her minor child, emphasizing that the actions of the police defied legal and ethical standards. “The manner in which police duties were carried out is far removed from the process of law,” the court noted.
In its directive, the court ordered the immediate release of the woman into her husband’s custody and called for the issuance of state guidelines to prevent such incidents. The Director General of Police was tasked with investigating the matter and taking corrective action within three months.
The court will review the progress on December 11.
