Getting FIR filed in missing cases a big task

Police do not immediately book a case when it comes to missing women or girls

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Police Commissioner, K Sreenivasa Reddy placing a sub inspector of Habeebnagar police station under suspension and issuing a charge-memo to the Station House Officer for not registering a case after a woman had gone missing, has brought into the focus the hardships citizens face in getting a FIR filed promptly in such cases.

While the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is simple that one can should walk-in and get an FIR registered after making a complaint, the police usually do not immediately book a case when it comes to women or girls missing.

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An entry is made into a register and the family is asked to get the latest photograph, wait for the sub inspector or inspector concerned to arrive, or ask the family or relatives to themselves search with relatives, friends and acquaintances.

“Complaints of police delaying registration of cases and promptly taking up investigation often come to notice. The general perception in police officials at lower level is that the woman or girl might have eloped with someone, but such approach has proved wrong many a times,” said Advocate Afsar Jahan, of Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR).

SQ Masood, a human rights activist pointed out there is a delay of one or two days in booking a case by the police in regard to women missing cases. “Police on pretext of making efforts to trace the women indirectly threaten the husband asking if he was demanding dowry or beating his wife etc.,” he alleged.

A former senior police officer said whenever the police receive a complaint, the teams should check the closed circuit cameras and gather clues on lines of ‘child kidnap cases investigation’.

“If a case is booked, the Lookout Notice can be flashed through social media platforms, circulated in police WhatsApp groups and other social groups like cab drivers, or others can be alerted to identify and help the missing person,” he suggested.

A social worker said the police in some cases label the missing person as ‘mentally disturbed’, without actually verifying or collecting any information from the family.