p. 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK WPCRL No. 48 of 2025 Sisir Sahoo …. Petitioner Mr. Prasanna Kumar Mishra, Advocate -versus- State of Odisha and others …. Opposite Parties Ms. Biswabara Dash, Additional Standing Counsel CORAM: HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND HON’BLE MR JUSTICE MURAHARI SRI RAMAN Order No. ORDER 16.03.2026 17. 1. Time and again, orders were passed upon the Government to take the utmost steps to trace out the alleged minor victim girl, who appears to have been absconded from her parental house. 2. On one of such occasions, we noticed that the Investigating Officer (IO) was chasing the fringe persons, who do not appear to have any complicity in taking the minor child in the illegal custody, and we directed the investigation to be done in a positive and right direction. Page 2 of 4 3. Today, Ms. Biswabara Dash, learned Additional Standing Counsel (ASC) appearing on behalf of the opposite parties-State hands over a bunch of documents to the Court received from the IIC, Kamakshyanagar Police Station regarding the rescue and/or recovery of the victim girl. 4. From the above documents, it reveals that the said victim girl has been rescued. The wife of the petitioner was duly intimated and she appeared before the police authorities. The statement of the alleged minor victim girl was recorded under Section 180 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Surkasha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) by the Investigating Officer and subsequently under Section 183 of the BNSS by the SDJM, Kamakshyanagar. 5. Both the statements stand unison as we do not find any disparity and/or discrepancy therefrom. She vividly and categorically stated that the father was arranging a marriage for her and forced her to remain in the house as the prospective groom family may come to see her. Since she was neither prepared nor agreeable to undergo the marriage at such age, she fled away from the parental house and took shelter in a Brahmakumari Ashram at Rourkela. She further deposed p. 3 that she was happy to remain there until she felt the absence of the parents and the emotional outbreak made her to appear before the police authorities voluntarily. 6. In the statement of the victim girl, she disclosed her age as 18 years and, therefore, we can reasonably infer that she has attained the majority. Since the alleged incident was reported when she was a minor, we proceeded to treat her as minor and passed diverse orders upon the authorities. 7. Be that as it may, since the girl has already been rescued and the documents forwarded to this Court reveal that the mother of the victim girl took her custody from the police authority, we do not find any justification in the stand of the petitioner being the father of the said girl that she has not been rescued. We appreciate the difficulty on the part of the counsel representing the petitioner in admitting those facts discerned from the documents produced before this Court, in absence of any instruction, but we cannot overlook the veracity of those documents authored by the officials and we can safely proceed on the basis that the girl has been rescued and integrated into the family. Page 4 of 4 8. There remains nothing in the instant writ petition on the basis of the facts so discerned. The instant writ petition in the nature of Habeas Corpus is thus dropped. Let the bunch of documents produced by Ms. Dash, learned ASC before this Court be kept on record. (Harish Tandon) Chief Justice (M.S. Raman) Judge S. Behera Designation: Senior Stenographer