Pune Police Rescues Woman Held Hostage by Family in Bihar; Court Grants Her Freedom

A 24-year-old woman who was produced before the Bombay High Court on Tuesday based on a Habeas corpus petition, told the court that she did not want to live with her parents and wanted to work and live in Pune out of her own free will. The woman had allegedly been held hostage by her own family in Samastipur in Bihar and was brought to court by Ambegaon Police from Pune city.

The Habeas corpus petition was filed by her friend seeking that she be produced in person. The friend had approached the court through advocates Dnyanesh Patil and Abhang Suryawanshi, stating that the woman was working at a real estate firm in Pune when she was asked by her family in Bihar to come over for a family function at the end of April.

However, the woman dropped a message on her friends' WhatsApp group on May 1 stating that she was being threatened and assaulted by her own parents to marry according to their will and that something could happen to her. The woman later called her friend using different phone numbers as her own phone was taken away. The woman informed her friend that she had approached the local Ujiarpur police in Samastipur, but they did not help her. Following this, she urged her friends to do something about it.

The woman's friend approached the court, stating in the plea that the detained woman's family on several occasions tried to kill her. They had physically assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she tried to run from home. The plea stated that the detainee is helpless and it is very necessary that she must come out of her father's house.

After hearing the petitioner, the high court on May 29 directed the Ambegaon police station in Pune to form a team and get the woman from Bihar. It was not easy as her family put up resistance and even hid her. However, the Ambegaon police team led by Senior Police Inspector Sharad Zine, Assistant Police Inspector Priyanka Gore, Head Constable Vinayak Padale, and Lady police constable Nilima Jadhav managed to get the woman back to Maharashtra and produced her before the court.

The bench of Justices Dr Neela Gokhale and Firdosh Pooniwalla interviewed the woman and observed that she was an adult so she can decide on her own about where she wants to live. The bench disposed of the Habeas corpus petition with the liberty to approach court if any further issue crops up.