Constitution of India — Article 226 — Writ of Habeas Corpus — Maintainability — “Man Missing” case — Absence of plea of illegal detention — Corpus voluntarily left house — Registration of missing case and investigation in progress — Whether writ maintainable — Held, No — Illegal detention is sine qua non for issuance of writ of Habeas Corpus — Cases of missing persons cannot be brought within purview of Habeas Corpus jurisdiction — Petition dismissed with direction to police to continue investigation.
A. Habeas Corpus — Scope and object — Para 8 & 9
A writ of Habeas Corpus is a processual writ to secure liberty of a person from unlawful or unjustified detention. It is maintainable only when there is specific pleading or material showing illegal confinement either by the State or by a private individual. Establishing illegal detention or strong suspicion thereof is a condition precedent.
B. Missing person — Registration of “man missing” case — Para 3, 6, 9
Where the corpus voluntarily left home and a “man missing” case was registered under regular criminal law provisions and investigation is underway, the extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 cannot be invoked.
C. Absence of foundational pleadings — Para 10 & 11
A new plea of suspected illegal detention, without factual foundation in pleadings, cannot be considered. Courts will not entertain arguments unsupported by averments in the writ petition.
D. Direction to Police — Para 13
Even while dismissing the writ petition as not maintainable, the Court may direct the police authorities to continue investigation and trace the missing person expeditiously.
CASES REFERRED
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Simmi Bai v. Shrimaan Police Mahanirikshak Mahodaya and others, 2025 SCC OnLine MP 893 — Paras 5, 8, 9.
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Home Secretary (Prison) v. H. Nilofer Nisha, (2020) 14 SCC 161 — Para 8.
GIST OF THE CASE
The petitioner, mother of the corpus, filed the writ petition seeking a Writ of Habeas Corpus alleging inaction of police in tracing her son who had been missing since 06.10.2025. A “man missing” case was registered on 09.10.2025 and investigation was in progress.
The respondents contended that there was no allegation of illegal detention and hence the writ was not maintainable.
The Court held that in the absence of pleadings alleging illegal detention, the writ petition for Habeas Corpus is not maintainable. However, the police were directed to continue investigation and trace the whereabouts of the missing person.
PRINCIPLES LAID DOWN
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Illegal detention is the sine qua non for issuance of writ of Habeas Corpus.
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Cases of missing persons are to be investigated under ordinary criminal law and cannot be converted into Habeas Corpus proceedings.
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Constitutional Courts shall not entertain Habeas Corpus petitions in the absence of allegation or suspicion of unlawful detention.
DISPOSITION
Writ Petition dismissed as not maintainable.
Police directed to continue investigation and trace the corpus expeditiously.
No order as to costs.
Pending interlocutory applications, if any, stand closed.
2025:APHC:52063
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