Supreme Court handed over the investigation of the case to Delhi Police.
The Supreme Court Tuesday handed over the investigation of a case lodged in Uttar Pradesh, after a 13-year-old girl was missing from Gorakhpur since July 8, to Delhi Police which recently recovered her and arrested the allegedly abductor.
A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar transferred the probe and said that all records related to the case collected by the UP Police be handed over to Delhi Police.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) R S Suri, appearing for Delhi Police, told the bench that the girl was recovered and the man who allegedly abducted her was arrested from Kolkata on September 2 and they were brought here on September 4. After that, the minor was examined at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and also given counselling.
Mr Suri told the bench, also comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar, it seems that on July 15 she had married the offending man and she has refused to go with her mother.
He said the girl has been handed over to the Gorakhpur Police as they wanted her custody to present her before the magistrate there.
While arguing that investigation should be handed over to Delhi Police, Mr Suri told the bench that the minor refused to go with her mother as she is "upset with her parents".
Advocate Pai Amit, appearing for the girl's mother who has filed a petition seeking directions to the UP Police and Delhi Police to trace her daughter, told the bench her pregnancy test is positive and if something has to be done, it has to be done in an urgent manner.
He said the girl is about 15-16 year old but in her Aadhaar, her age is mentioned as 13.
Mr Suri said the girl claims that she is 17-year-old and the AIIMS has referred her to the forensic department for estimation of her age.
"We will transfer the investigation to the Delhi Police. That we will do immediately. But, how should we go thereafter, you should indicate it to us," the bench told the ASG, who said he would discuss the issue and apprise the bench about it.
The bench told the counsel appearing for Uttar Pradesh that it is transferring the probe to the Delhi Police and if he has any objection to it.
"I have no objection. I leave it to my lords," the lawyer said.
After the ASG referred to the report of counselling, the bench said, "She has admitted sexual assault?".
Mr Suri replied in the affirmative after which the bench observed, "Something needs to be done about it".
The bench, while posting the matter for further hearing on September 14, said in the backdrop of the manner in which the matter proceeded before it and without recording any finding on the factum of nature of investigation done by the Gorakhpur Police, it is transferring the investigation to the Delhi Police.
"The investigation of the case shall be carried forward by the Malviya Nagar Police with immediate effect and they must take all necessary steps required to protect the minor girl from being exposed to any untoward situation," the bench said in its order.
The bench said since the girl is not represented before it through a lawyer, it is nominating senior advocate K V Viswanathan to represent her.
On September 3, the Delhi Police had informed the top court that the girl was recovered and the man who had allegedly abducted her was arrested from Kolkata.
The top court had on September 1 pulled up Uttar Pradesh Police for its probe into the case and directed it to forthwith share the investigation report with Delhi Police.
The mother, who works as a domestic help in Delhi, has claimed in her petition that her daughter is believed to have been kidnapped from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh by a man when her family members had gone there to attend a marriage ceremony.
An FIR was registered in the case at Gorakhpur.
In her petition, the girl's mother has sought directions for carrying out investigation into the disappearance and kidnapping of her daughter and take appropriate action against those who may be found involved in this.
The habeas corpus petition, seeking to produce the girl before the court, has alleged that despite an FIR being lodged at Gorakhpur and an attempt being made to make a complaint with the Delhi Police, no action has been taken to trace the minor.
It said the man, who is suspected to have kidnapped the girl, was constantly luring and coaxing her to accompany him.
The mother claimed after an FIR was registered in Gorakhpur, she returned to Delhi and approached a police station where she had complained regarding the man on a previous occasion but the police refused to register or take steps for recording her complaint about kidnapping of her daughter on the grounds that a prior FIR has already been lodged in Uttar Pradesh.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)