Allahabad high court adjourns hearing in missing BHU student case

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has adjourned the hearing of a letter turned PIL on the issue of a missing Banaras Hindu University (BHU) student till October 12.
Hearing the PIL filed by one Saurabh Tiwari, a lawyer and BHU alumnus, a division bench comprising Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice SC Sharma passed the order after hearing both sides.
In this letter turned public interest litigation (PIL), the petitioner had raised the incident of alleged disappearance of the student.
Superintendent of police (SSP) Varanasi, Amit Pathak, who was earlier summoned by the court, had informed the court that a special team had been constituted to trace the missing student.
“The police are sincerely making efforts to get the whereabouts of the missing person. Suitable departmental action has also been taken against erring officers,” the SSP Varanasi submitted before the court.
The officer then asked for some more time so that further efforts can be made for searching the missing person. On which the court adjourned the hearing in the case.
The court exempted the presence of SSP Varanasi on the next date of hearing. However, the court directed him to ensure that some responsible officer on his behalf must remain present in the court to apprise with the latest progress in the investigation.
To recall, Saurabh Tiwari, in his letter addressed to the Chief Justice, had alleged that Shiv Kumar Trivedi, a BSc second year student of BHU, was picked up by the police from the university’s Amphitheatre ground on February 12 on the basis of a fellow student’s call to the UP police integrated emergency response service 112.
During the call, the fellow student reported that Shiv Kumar was either unconscious or present at the ground in an unusual way, the PIL said.
On an earlier date of hearing, the additional government advocate (AGA), representing the state government, had filed an affidavit and stated that the student, who was at a police station, ran away the next day, i.e., on February 13, 2020. No details in relation to him are available since then. However, later, an apparently mentally challenged person was brought by the police. The police suspected that he may be Shiv Kumar. Therefore, DNA and biometric tests were proposed to be conducted to determine his identity.
The court on which summoned SSP Varanasi while observing, “We fail to understand why the police authorities, instead of placing on record all the details relating to the facts that happened on and after February 12 and, more specifically, after the boy ran away from the police station, which fact must have been recorded in the general diary, have filed a vague affidavit.”
The court passed this order on September 22 that came to limelight on September 23.