Madras HC to set guidelines for police investigating cases of missing persons
Division bench said a machinery must be put in place to ensure that people got the assistance they needed in finding their missing relatives
Chennai: He didn’t approve of his 18-year-old son’s affair with a 16-year-old girl and was against him going to Cuddalore last June to meet her. And his worst fears came true when his son didn’t return. Pensiliya spent the next one year looking for him, going to the police and finally filing a habeas corpus petition in court. His search ended when he was shown photographs of the body that had washed ashore on the Marina on June 10, 2013 and identified it as that of his son.
Pesiliya’s ordeal has now prompted the Madras high court to lay down a series of guidelines for police officials investigating cases of missing persons and unidentified bodies.
Observing that “missing persons and unclaimed bodies are posing a real challenge to traditional policing in the state,” a division bench comprising Justices S. Rajeswaran and P. N. Prakash said a machinery must be put in place to ensure that people got the assistance they needed in finding their missing relatives without having to approach the court for help.
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