Boy Missing From Police Custody Since 2018; ‘Even the SP Cannot Be Spared,’ Says Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court recently pulled up the Uttar Pradesh Police for their failure to trace a young man who disappeared from a police station seven years ago, directing the Director General of Police to personally file an affidavit within three days explaining the status of the case and the force’s actions since 2018.

"This kind of disappearance from police custody cannot be tolerated. What is more important is that the responsibility, if the detenue has indeed been eliminated, cannot be placed upon the shoulders of a sundry Sub Inspector. The then Superintendent of Police of the district cannot be spared," said the bench of Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Sanjiv Kumar said.

Shiv Kumar, a young man detained at Paikaulia police station in Basti district in connection with an elopement case, vanished from police custody in September 2018.

Court noted that despite a series of orders, repeated reminders, and allegations of custodial elimination, the state police had failed to provide any credible explanation or produce him before the court.

Hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by the detenue’s father, the bench on November 25, 2025 said the police response over the years amounted to “utter mockery,” observing that a man detained in a minor IPC offence cannot simply disappear from a police station without accountability at the highest level.

The matter began with a case filed in 2018 under Section 363 IPC, where the girl’s family lodged an FIR against an unknown person after she eloped with Shiv Kumar. Both were recovered, and the boy was kept at the police station. When the father visited, he was told his son would be released once the girl’s statement under Section 164 CrPC was recorded. That statement was recorded promptly, yet Shiv Kumar was never released, never produced before a magistrate for remand, and later could not be found at all.

By late 2018, court had already sought instructions regarding his whereabouts. For years thereafter, the case saw multiple hearings, affidavits, and assurances, none of which brought clarity.

In March 2021, the bench recorded allegations that Shiv Kumar may have been killed in police custody, noting that no FIR had been filed despite detailed accusations against a sub-inspector and two constables. The judges found the police investigation “superficial,” questioning why officers had visited the Nepal border without any material suggesting cross-border movement.

It was only after the March 2021 order that the police registered an FIR under Sections 364 and 120-B IPC, naming SI Arvind Kumar, two unidentified constables, and the girl’s brother. The father alleged that when he went to the police station with village witnesses, he had spoken to his son, only to be told a few days later that the boy was suddenly missing. He expressed suspicion that the officers had either hidden or killed him.

Despite these allegations and the subsequent FIR, the police failed to recover Shiv Kumar or provide any coherent account of what happened inside the police station. The high court, recording its frustration, said the disappearance of a man from police custody for seven years “cannot be tolerated,” and responsibility cannot be pinned merely on “a sundry sub-inspector,” indicating that supervisory failures must also be examined.

The bench remarked on the large volume of affidavits and order-sheet entries in the case, contrasting it with the complete absence of real investigative progress.

Directing the current DGP to file a personal affidavit within three days, the court said he must look into the facts himself before the bench considers “further and suitable orders".

The matter was then listed next on November 28.

In the subsequent hearing, the Director General of Police, Rajeev Krishna, filed a personal affidavit stating that the court’s concerns had been taken “with utmost seriousness” and that a Special Investigation Team had been constituted under the supervision of the Additional Director General, Gorakhpur Zone, to locate Shiv Kumar.

The affidavit disclosed that the SIT, comprising five members, including two gazetted officers, was directed to begin work immediately on November 26 and submit a clear report within a week.

The bench, however, recorded its dissatisfaction with the DGP’s stand, observing that it remained “utterly unimpressed” with the police response even at this advanced stage of the case.

Granting a final ten days to trace the detenue, court made it clear that the eight-year-old rule nisi can only be answered in one of two ways: by producing Shiv Kumar alive or producing evidence that he is dead or has left the country. “There is no fourth way or option,” the judges said.

Directing the matter to be listed on 9 December 2025 at 2 p.m., court ordered that another personal affidavit of the DGP must be filed on the next date.

Case Title: Shiv Kumar (Corpus ) And Another vs. State Of U.P. And 5 Others

Order Date: November 25 & 28, 2025

Bench: Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Sanjiv Kumar