Court on Its Own Motion Vs State Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Anr. — Delhi HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Court on Its Own Motion Vs State Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Anr. — Delhi HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Continuing directions: further investigation to trace the missing boy and produce him before the concerned Magistrate; quarterly reports of the investigation before the concerned Magistrate; information of the investigation to be shared with the parents of the missing boy.

Issue for consideration

Tracing the whereabouts of the missing boy, Master ‘L’, and producing him before the concerned Magistrate. +2 more

Court's answer

The Court disposed of the suo motu petition by directing the respondents to carry out further investigation to trace the missing boy and produce him before the concerned Magistrate.

Ratio / Principle

Reports of the ongoing investigation are to be filed before the concerned Magistrate on a quarterly basis, and information thereof is also to be shared with the parents of the missing boy.

Key takeaways

The Court expressed the expectation that the investigation into the transfer of the ransom money would be taken to its logical end as expeditiously as possible, with strict action against the persons involved; this was an expression of hope, not a binding direction.obiter¶13

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Suo motu writ petition (Court on its Own Motion), W.P.(CRL) 568/2026, High Court of Delhi (Coram: Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja, JJ.), disposed on 20.07.2026. Registered on a letter from Ms. Gudia Devi (wife of Sh. Kalicharan, Nangloi, Delhi) reporting that her son, Master ‘L’, a Class-7 student of C.R. Saini Senior Secondary School, Nangloi, had been missing since 29.12.2025. Status Reports disclosed a ransom call to the father, who transferred Rs. 54,000/- into two specified bank accounts; notice was issued to UIDAI, whose counsel submitted that the IP address and GPS location of the Aadhaar authentication are not stored by UIDAI (counsel's submission, not adopted as the Court's finding). Arrests were made on the money trail, but the boy remained untraced with no further leads. The Court disposed of the petition by directing the respondents to continue the investigation to trace the missing boy and produce him before the concerned Magistrate, to file quarterly investigation reports before that Magistrate, and to share the information with the boy's parents.

$~1

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

- W.P.(CRL) 568/2026

COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION .....Petitioner Through:

versus

STATE GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI & ANR .....Respondents Through: Mr. Amol Sinha, ASC (Criminal) with Mr. Kshitiz Garg, Mr. Ashvini Kumar, Ms. Chavi Lazarus and Mr. Nitish Dhawan, Advocates with SI Pramod Kumar, AHTU/Crime Branch with Mr. Kalicharan. Complainant. Mr. Devvrat Yadav, SPC with Mr. Kartik Sharma, GP for UIDAI.

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAVIN CHAWLA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAVINDER DUDEJA O R D E R % 20.07.2026

This petition has been registered on the basis of a letter written by one Ms. Gudia Devi, wife of Sh. Kalicharan, resident of F-101, Laxmi Park, Nangloi, Delhi - 110041, wherein she has stated that her son, namely Master ‘L’, who was studying in Class-7 at C.R. Saini Senior Secondary School, Nangloi, Delhi, has been missing since 29.12.2025.

Upon notice of this petition being issued, the respondents have been filing periodical Status Reports regarding the progress of the investigation.

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/07/2026 at 12:57:32

In such Status Reports, it has, inter alia, been disclosed that a call was received by the father of the missing boy, demanding ransom for the release of the boy. Believing the said representation, the complainant/father of the missing boy transferred an amount of Rs. 54,000/- into two specified bank accounts. We, therefore, had also issued notice to the Unique Identification Authority of India [“UIDAI”] for assisting in the investigation.

Now, a further Status Report dated 17.07.2026 has been filed, wherein it is revealed that investigation into the transfer of money has also been done and certain arrests have been made. However, the whereabouts of the missing boy have still not been traced. 5. As far as the investigation into the transfer of money is concerned, we are hopeful that looking into the seriousness of the same, it shall be taken to its logical end as expeditiously as possible and strict action taken against the persons involved in the same. 6. As far as the investigation on the authentication of the Aadhar Card of the missing boy, Mr. Devvrat Yadav, the learned counsel who appears for the UIDAI, submits that the IP address and the GPS location from where the Aadhaar Card was authenticated are not stored by the UIDAI. 7. Be that as it may, the Status Reports have revealed that even after investigating these transactions, no further leads have emerged regarding the whereabouts of the missing boy.

Given the above status, we dispose of this petition by directing the respondents to carry out further investigation to trace the missing boy and produce him before the concerned Magistrate. Periodical

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/07/2026 at 12:57:32

reports of the investigation being carried out be also filed before the concerned Magistrate on a quarterly basis. Information of the same be also shared with the parents of the missing boy.

NAVIN CHAWLA, J

RAVINDER DUDEJA, J

JULY 20, 2026/ vd/ma/Yg

This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/07/2026 at 12:57:32