Cops detain pregnant woman with 2-year-old child for questioning, HC terms it 'abuse of authority'

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court has come down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh Police for “unlawfully detaining” a pregnant woman 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 police to handle cases involving women more carefully.

The woman’s family 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 high court that Sub-Inspector Anurag Kumar of the Agra Police had taken the eight-month pregnant woman 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 at the Chinahat Police Station in Lucknow for over six hours.

In its ruling, the bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi expressed grave concern over the violation of the woman’s rights and noted that the “investigating officer failed to apply his mind to the allegations in the FIR”.

“The manner in which police duties were carried out was far from the process of law and amounts to abuse of authority,” the bench remarked.

The bench ordered that the woman be immediately released, taken back to her home in Lucknow and handed over to her husband in the presence of her legal counsel.

It also directed the Uttar Pradesh Police chief to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the officer involved and submit a report to the court within three months.

The high court bench underlined that the woman, being in an advanced stage of pregnancy and accompanied by her child, should never have been subjected to police custody.

It sought an affidavit from the state within 10 days, outlining the steps taken to comply with the ruling and emphasised that this case should serve as a reminder to police authorities to act with greater sensitivity in matters involving women.

The next hearing is scheduled for December 11.