Ranchi, July 27, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Jharkhand High Court on Monday expressed strong dissatisfaction over the pace of the investigation into the disappearance of a teenage girl from Bokaro, who has remained untraced for nearly six years, and directed the Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appear before it in person.
A division bench comprising Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad issued the direction after reviewing the progress of the investigation and the records submitted by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and the CBI. The matter has been listed for further hearing on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m.
During the proceedings, the court closely examined the evidence collected and the steps taken by the investigating agencies. It questioned why the missing girl had not been traced despite the passage of several years and sought details of the concrete measures being adopted to bring the investigation to a logical conclusion.
Taking note of the seriousness of the case, the bench directed the CBI SP to personally brief the court on the progress made so far and the proposed course of further investigation.
The case relates to the disappearance of a 14-year-old girl from the Pindrajora police station area of Bokaro district on October 16, 2020. A supervision report prepared after registration of the FIR had treated the incident as one of abduction. Investigators had recovered the girl’s bicycle, slippers and school books from near the place where she was last seen.
After the investigation failed to yield any breakthrough for an extended period, the girl’s family moved the High Court through a habeas corpus petition.
During an earlier hearing on July 2, the High Court impleaded the CBI in the case and directed it to work jointly with the CID, asking both agencies to coordinate the investigation while utilising the CBI’s technical expertise and resources.
The CID informed the court that an e-KYC matching exercise had identified a girl in Bihar’s Gopalganj district whose facial features showed nearly 90 per cent similarity with the missing teenager. However, fingerprint verification and other identity parameters did not match, preventing authorities from confirming her identity.
The High Court has repeatedly expressed concern over the prolonged delay in tracing the missing girl and the lack of substantial progress in the investigation.
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