Patna High Court

Salahuddin Ansari @ Md. SalahuddinversusThe State of Bihar, through the Director General of Police, Bihar

Decided: 25 February 2026
Disposal: DISPOSED
Bench: SUDHIR SINGH RAJESH KUMAR VERMA

Holding

The criminal writ application is disposed of, with the petitioner directed to seek relief under Section 100 of the BNSS, 2023.

Summary

The petitioner, a father, filed a criminal writ seeking habeas corpus and mandamus orders to recover his 7‑year‑old son, Faizan Alam, allegedly in illegal custody of private respondents and to transfer the investigation to the CID or AHTU. The State responded, detailing extensive search operations, involvement of a Special Investigation Team, and steps taken under various SOPs, but the child remained missing. The court examined whether it could grant the writs and noted that the investigation was ongoing under an FIR. It advised the petitioner to avail the remedy under Section 100 of the Bihar Naxal and Security (BNSS) Act, 2023, for a search warrant. Consequently, the criminal writ application was disposed of, with the court granting liberty to approach the magistrate under the said provision.

Issues considered

Whether the High Court can issue a writ of habeas corpus directing police to produce the missing minor.
Whether the court can direct transfer of the investigation to the CID or AHTU through a mandamus.
Whether disciplinary action against the police officer for alleged inaction is warranted.
Whether the petitioner should seek relief under Section 100 of the BNSS, 2023.

Subjects

child kidnapping
habeas corpus
mandamus
investigation transfer
disciplinary action
missing child
criminal writ
high court

Judgment

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Criminal Writ Jurisdiction Case No.2859 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-647 Year-2025 Thana- SIKARPUR District- West Champaran
======================================================
Salahuddin Ansari @ Md. Salahuddin, aged about 30 years, Gender-Male,
S/O Shamsuddin R/O Village- Bairiya Mangrahri Barwa Barauli, P.S-
Shikarpur, Distt.- West Champaran (Bettiah), State- Bihar- 845451.

... ... Petitioner
Versus

1. The State of Bihar, through the Director General of Police, Bihar, Patna.
2. The Additional Director General (ADG), Weaker Section, In-Charge, Anti-
Human Trafficking Unit Government of Bihar.
3. The Superintendent of Police, West Champaran at Bettiah.
4. The Deputy- Superintendent of Police, Bettiah, Distt.- West Champaran.
5. The S.H.O. of Shikarpur Police Station, Distt.- West Champaran (Bettiah).
6. The Investigating officer of Shikarpur Police Station Case No.- 647/2025,
Distt.- West Champaran (Bettiah), Bihar.
7. Sanjay Kumar Verma, aged about 38 years, Gender-Male, S/O Late Ajay
Verma, R/O Village- Ghughraha Belwa, P.S- Sanachari, Distt.- West
Champaran (Bettiah), Bihar.
8. Ajay Chaudhary, aged about 35 years, Gender-Male, S/O Madam Mahto
R/O Village- Mangrahari Bairiya, P.S- Shikarpur, Distt.- West Champaran
(Bettiah), Bihar.
9. Seema Khatoon, aged about 35 years, Gender-Female, W/O Tajmullah
Ansari, R/O Village- Mangrahari Bairiya, P.S- Shikarpur, Distt.- West
Champaran (Bettiah), Bihar.

... ... Respondents
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner : Mr. Jitendra Kumar, Advocate
For the State : Mr. Prabhu Narayan Sharma, A.C. to A.G.
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR SINGH
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH KUMAR VERMA
ORAL ORDER
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
2/11

(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR SINGH)

4 25-02-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and

learned counsel for the State.

2. The following reliefs have been sought for by

the petitioner in the present criminal writ application:

1(a) For issuance of a direction, order or
writ, including writ in the nature of
Habeas Corpus, directing the respondent
authorities, specially the Respondent Nos.
2 to 6, to recover the petitioner's 7 years
minor son (corpus) from illegal custody of
the person (s)/private respondent nos. 7 to
9 (accused in Shikarpur P.S. Case No. 647
of 2025), and to hand over the custody of
the 7 years minor victim boy (corpus) to
the petitioner/legal guardian.
(b) For issuance of a direction, order or
writ, including writ in the nature of
Mandamus, directing the Respondent
authorities, to handover the investigation
of Shikarpur P.S. Case No. 647 of 2025
concerning the missing minor boy namely
Fiyaz Alam, to the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID), Bihar, or any other
competent investigating agency, to ensure
an independent, impartial, investigation
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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into the circumstances leading to the
minor's illegal custody, recovery, and
protection and to ensure fair, proper, and
expeditious investigation in accordance
with law.
(c) For Issuance of a direction, order or
writ, including writ in the nature of
Mandamus, directing and Commanding
the respondents to take Disciplinary
action against the officer, who at the
relevant point of time failed to act in
accordance with the law and had not
taken any action to find the Minor victim
Child and to initiate criminal action
against the culprits.
(d) For any other relief/reliefs that the
petitioner may be found to be entitled to in
the facts and circumstances of the present
case.

3. A supplementary counter affidavit has been

filed on behalf of the respondent nos. 2 and 3 and in

paragraph nos. 13 and 14 of the same the following

statements have been made:-

“13. That in order to recover the missing
child of petitioner, several steps have been
taken by the respondent authorities:-
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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A. It is submitted that immediately upon
the receipt of information of missing child,
intensive search operation was carried
out by the police for continuous 3 days in
village- Mangarahi and Bariya. Apart
from it, inquiries were also made from
family members and villagers with regard
to missing child.
B. It is submitted that help of dog squad
was also taken in carrying out search at
the place of occurrence and in the nearbly
village area.
C. It is submitted that senior police
officers are regularly monitoring and
giving directions for recovery of missing
child of petitioner by holding camp.
D. Necessary information was sent to all
police stations on 25.06.2025, with regard
to missing child.
E. Photographs/posters regarding the
missing child were pasted around the
local railway station Narkatiaganj and
Bettiah Railway Station, Bus Stand and
other public places/hospitals.
F. After the incident, the mobile details of
the suspects and the Dump data near the
incident site were also extracted and
analysed but no evidence could be found.
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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G. Information/advertisement has been
circulated on social media to reward the
person giving information regarding the
missing child with Rs. 10,000/- (Ten
Thousand).
H. Respondent No. 3, the Superintendent
of Police, West Champaran, Bettiah sent
the photograph of the missing child to the
Criminal Investigation Department, Bihar,
Patna, for publication of details of the
child in CIG vide Letter No. 1123/D.C.B.
dated 13.10.2025. All Superintendents of
Police of Bihar were also requested by the
Superintendent of Police, West,
Champaran, Bettiah to direct the State
House Officers in their respective districts
to trace out the missing boy.
I. The Superintendent of Police, West
Champaran, Bettiah, requested the
Director, Information and public
Relations Department, Bihar, Patna, for
publication of details of the kidnapped
child Faizan Alam in electronic
media/newspapers vide his office letter
no. 1264/D.C.B. dated 21.11.2025.
J. The details of the missing child Faizan
have been uploaded on “Mission
Vatsalya” Portal, whose Missing ID is
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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2025100107M5201763725845.
K. It is noteworthy that the Superintendent
of Police, West Champaran, Bettiah,
constituted SIT headed by the Sub-
Divisional Police Officer, Narkatiaganj,
and deputed police officers/personnel to
recover the missing/kidnapped child,
Faizan Alam vide his Office Memo No.
3811/C.R., dated 03.11.2025. The SIT is
continuously making efforts to recover the
child.
14. That the following instructions have
been given to the I.O. and the Supervising
authorities for further investigation after
review:-
1. SOP issued by the Ministry of Women
and Child Welfare, Govt. of India on
23.11.16, the SOP issued by the Crime
Investigation and Weaker Sections
Division vide Letter No. 360/SJPU dated
10.04.2014 and the Standard Operating
Procedure prescribed in Rule 92 of the
Bihar JJ (Care & Protection of Children)
Rule, 2017 regarding kidnapped/missing
girls should be strictly followed. In the
course of investigation, strict compliance
should be ensured on the remaining points
of the above SOPs in the compliance done
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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so far.
II. This case was reported almost seven
and half months ago, but the investigation
of this case has yet not been transferred to
the AHTU. As per SOP of missing
children, it is mandatory to transfer the
case to the district AHTU, if the child
couldn't be recovered after a period of
four months from the date of registration
of the F.I.R. Transfer the case to the
district AHTU immediately for better and
expertise investigation.
III. It is quite apparent from review that
the Superintendent of Police, west
Champaran, Bettiah requested the
Director, Information and Public
Relations Department, Bihar, Patna for
publication of details of the kidnapped
child Faizan Alam in electronic
media/newspaper for his recovery vide his
Office Letter No. 1264/D.C.B. dated
21.11.2025 but, it is not clear from the
case diary that any publication or
transmission was actually done on the
said request letter or not. Obtain the
record of relevant publications and
transmissions which were done on such
request and mention it in case diary.
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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IV. The activity of the user of the
suspicious mobile number found from
CDR and data dump analysis and his
involvement in the case should be
investigated deeply. It is mentioned in
case diary that one call was found
recorded from the one of the suspect
Seema Khatoon from her mobile no.
9341630356 to the mobile no.
8779824587 of some Ezajul Ansari,
immediately after the incident, but it was
not further analysed. Analyse this call
thoroughly and ascertain the complicity of
Ezazul Ansari in this case. It can be a lead
to investigation.
V. The evidences/exhibits collected so far
during the course of investigation of this
case should be analysed afresh.
VI. The witnesses/suspects (Sanjay Kumar
Verma, Ajay Chaudhary and Seema
Khatoon) of the case should be
interrogated afresh in deptch/re-
examined, If there is any point of
inquiry/investigation or interrogation of
any of the suspects pending, it should be
ensured quickly.
VII. Find out the CCTV Cameras installed
near mosque and other nearby locations
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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and ways going out of the village and
obtaining footage of concerned period of
those CCTV cameras, analyse the same to
trace out the missing/kidnapped body.
VIII. Also obtain the CCTV footage from
important railway stations like
Narkatiaganj and Bettiah and bus stops of
the district for the concerned period and
analyse them.
IX. Obtain the AADHAR No. of the
missing/kidnapped child and call for a
report from UIDAI authorities about the
use of the same after missing of child.
X. Work done by the SIT constituted for
the recovery of missing/kidnapped child
be reviewed regularly by the
Superintendent of Police, west
Champaran, Bettiah.
XI. Every possible effort and action
should be taken for the recovery of the
kidnapped/missing child Faizan Alam in
this case.
XII. The Superintendent of Police, west
Champaran, Bettiah will ensure the
compliance on other pending instructions
in addition to the instructions given above
and will provide the compliance report
and progress of investigation fortnightly
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
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on the email [email protected].”

4. Considering the statements referred

hereinabove, it appears that an F.I.R. has been instituted and

investigation is going on.

5. The petitioner, if so advised, shall be at

liberty to avail the appropriate statutory remedy by filing an

application under Section 100 of the BNSS, 2023, which

reads as follows:-

“100. If any District Magistrate, Sub-
divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the
first class has reason to believe that any
person is confined under such
circumstances that the confinement
amounts to an offence, he may issue a
search warrant, and the person to whom
such warrant is directed may search for the
person so confined; and such search
shall be made in accordance therewith,
and the person, if found, shall be
immediately taken before a Magistrate,
who shall make such order as in the
circumstances of the case seems proper.”

6. With the aforesaid liberty, the present
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.2859 of 2025(4) dt.25-02-2026
11/11

criminal writ application stands disposed of.

7. Pending application(s), if any, shall also stand

disposed of.

(Sudhir Singh, J)

(Rajesh Kumar Verma, J)
U.K./-
U T

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