Kolkata, August 26 (HS). Acting on a mother's petition, the Calcutta High Court has issued orders to search for a father across the country who has allegedly kidnapped his own daughter. In this case, the mother filed a petition in the court stating that her husband has forcefully taken their five-year-old daughter with him and he can go out of the country at any time. The mother pleaded with the court to bring her daughter back and prevent the accused husband from going abroad in any way.
Considering the seriousness of the case, the High Court has issued an arrest warrant against the accused father. The court has ordered the central government to issue an alert at all airports in the country so that the accused cannot flee the country. A division bench of Justice Debashu Basak and Justice Mohammad Shabbar Rasidi ordered that the investigating officer will have to start searching for the accused within 24 hours and the police has been allowed to take all necessary steps to bring back the girl.
The case began in 2012, when Ankho Sarkar, a resident of Highland Park, Kolkata, was married to Shravani Dutta. From 2022, their relationship soured and they started living separately. After this, a legal battle began between the two over the custody of their five-year-old daughter. The lower court ruled that the girl would stay with her mother, but the father could talk to her on the phone during holidays. Shravani followed this court order, but just a few weeks later on May 12, when she was going to a shopping mall with her daughter, her husband suddenly came and kidnapped the girl and fled.
After this incident, the lower court ordered the accused father and the girl to appear, but when the order was not followed, an arrest warrant was issued. Despite this, when the girl was not found, Shravani filed a 'Habeas Corpus' petition in the High Court. She told the court that her husband may flee abroad, so he should be stopped. The police told the court that the accused is not in Kolkata and he is being searched.
Justice Basak found that the accused works in an IT company in Newtown and the company was asked to help locate him. The company director told the court that the accused is no longer coming to the office and is working from home. His device showed that he has gone out of the state. Earlier he was working from Mumbai. The court ordered the central and state governments to stop the accused from going abroad and immediately send his information to the concerned authorities. The police were also directed to collect all the information like mobile number, email ID, bank account number of the accused from the IT company and start the search immediately.
The next hearing of this case will be on August 28, 2024, where the police will have to submit its report.