HC asks Jharkhand govt to explain action against Gumla police officers in missing girl case

Ranchi, Jul 9 (PTI) The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday directed the state government to inform it about the action taken against the SPs posted in Gumla between 2018 and 2022 in connection with the disappearance of a girl. A division bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Sanjay Prasad, while hearing a habeas corpus petition, also asked the government to apprise it of the action taken against the investigating officers posted in Gumla during the period the girl remained missing. The court was informed by the state counsel that the main accused, Sukhmani Urain, is scheduled to undergo a narco analysis test at the Directorate of Forensic Sciences in Gujarat. The bench directed the state government to place the narco analysis report on record and posted the matter for further hearing on August 17. The state counsel submitted that the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Gumla had permitted the narco analysis test of the accused. Following the court's order, the state government approached the Directorate of Forensic Sciences, which has scheduled the test between August 3 and 11, the counsel said. A special police team will escort the accused to Gujarat for the test, the court was informed. The case pertains to the disappearance of the petitioner's six-year-old daughter from Khora village in Gumla district in September 2018. According to the petition, an FIR was lodged in 2019, but there was no significant progress in the investigation and the girl could not be traced. Investigation in the case commenced in 2022, as per official records. The girl's mother, Chandramuni Urain, later moved the high court in September 2025, alleging that her daughter could have been a victim of human trafficking. PTI CORR NAM MNB