IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CR. WJC No.745 of 2010 BHOLA PRASAD SAH Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- 4/ 14.9.2010 The informant of Maniyari P.S. Case No. 24 of 2010, registered under sections 366 and 366A of the IPC, is the father of the victim girl Anjali Kumari, who is said to be minor aged 15 years. Prayer in this writ application is for a direction to the police authorities to produce petitioner’s kidnapped minor daughter before the court. It has also been stated in the criminal writ application that, no proper investigation is being done by the police authorities due to which his daughter, kidnapped from school on 10.2.2010, has still not been recovered. The petitioner has alleged slackness on the part of the police authorities in the matters of investigation and recovery of his daughter. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of respondent no. 9, Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur, from which it transpires that no sooner the police got information about the kidnapping of the girl, it came into action and all efforts are being made for recovery of the girl. Some persons who are named as accused, have also been arrested but till date, the victim girl could not be located and recovered. The supervision note of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur has also been annexed in support of this statement and in order to show that the investigation is proceeding in a right direction. 2 From the supervision note, it transpires that in fact, the daughter of the informant had some affinity with her classmate Vijay Sharma, who is also a minor, aged about 14 years. They used to talk on mobile phone earlier and they decided to elope due to their affinity. Charge sheet has also been submitted against one of the accused Niranjan Sharma, who was arrested. On perusal of the counter affidavit and submissions made by counsel for the state, we find that there is no slackness in the investigation. The police authorities are proceeding in right direction. However, it is required that the investigation should be expedited and whereabouts of the boy and girl should be found out by the investigating agency. Counsel for the petitioner submits that some time frame should be fixed for the recovery of the girl. We are of the view that in the matters of investigation of a criminal case unless there is utmost negligence on the part of investigating agency, this Court would not like to interfere with the investigation process, since, this is the sole jurisdiction of the police to investigate the case. The investigating agency should not be directed to complete investigation within a time frame, unless there is some obvious reason for that. Sometimes investigation could be delayed for different reasons. In the present case if the girl and the boy would have eloped to places beyond the jurisdiction of the state, then, there are formalities to be observed before arresting them. In the facts and circumstances of the case, without giving 3 any specific direction to complete the investigation within the time specified, it is expected that the police authorities shall make all necessary efforts to recover the minor daughter of the informant. This application is disposed of accordingly. Anil/ (Mridula Mishra, J.) ( Dharnidhar Jha, J.)