Pregnant woman detained with 2-yr-old; High Court terms it ‘abuse of authority’

The Allahabad High Court has come down heavily on the UP Police for “unlawfully detaining” a pregnant woman, who was accompanied by her two-year-old child, for over six hours to record her statement in a kidnapping case filed by her family, terming it “abuse of authority” and “torture”.

It directed the police to pay Rs 1 lakh to the eight-month pregnant woman and instructed the state government to issue guidelines for the police to handle cases involving women carefully.

The woman’s parents had lodged a complaint with the Agra police, claiming she was kidnapped in August 2021, while on her way to appear for an exam. An FIR was lodged, but investigation into the case did not see much progress.

During the hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed by the woman’s husband, their counsels Raghvendra P Singh and Mohd Sheraj refuted the kidnapping charge, saying she got married and has been living with her husband in Lucknow.

The petitioner’s counsels told the Lucknow Bench of the HC that SI Anurag Kumar of the Agra police had taken the eight-month pregnant woman, who was accompanied by her two-year-old child, in custody on November 29 in Lucknow to record her statement in the kidnapping case. They claimed the investigating officer neither brought the case diary nor checked the woman’s age before detaining her for over six hours.