HC slams Pune police for failure to trace missing girls

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the Pune Police for their ‘apathy’ in tracing two girls who have been missing after escaping from a human trafficking racket. The HC has also asked the Advocate General (AG) to appear in the court personally in the next hearing.

The direction came from a division bench presided over by Justice Ranjit More and Justice Revati Mohite-Dhere while hearing a petition filed by advocate and activist Anuja Kapur.

Kapur, a resident of Delhi has claimed that the two girls have gone missing and could have been eliminated by the Pune police. She alleged that some of the officers from the force too had sexually exploited the girls.

According to Kapur, “The girls, one minor and one adult were lured by the accused and were trafficked and sexually exploited. The girls were physically tortured and also had burn marks, scars and injuries on their body parts including genitals. Some of the police officers from Pune police had also exploited them sexually and this is the main reason they don’t want to trace the girls now.”

After hearing the submissions, Justice Mohite-Dhere slammed the police officials for not taking efforts to trace the girls. “You (police) have not taken any effort to trace the girls. It appears that you aren’t interested to know their whereabouts.”

“If all these serious allegations are against you how will you try to trace these girls? You cannot remain helpless especially when there are allegations of such serious nature against you,” Justice Mohite-Dhere added.

Accordingly, the bench directed the AG to appear for the Pune police in next hearing. The bench has also asked the Pune Police Commissioner to appoint a senior officer above the rank of a Deputy Commissioner to investigate the case.