{
  "id": 2212203,
  "title": "Madhya Pradesh High Court Slaps Fine On Man Seeking Habeas Corpus For Eloped Son",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/madhya-pradesh-high-court-slaps-fine-on-man-seeking-habeas-corpus-for",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-20T19:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/indore/madhya-pradesh-high-court-slaps-fine-on-man-seeking-habeas-corpus-for-eloped-son"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a recent ruling, the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has fined an individual for filing a baseless habeas corpus petition. The petitioner, Rajesh Sharma, sought the court's intervention to locate his \"missing\" son who had eloped. However, the court dismissed the case, imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on Sharma.\n\nThe division bench comprising Justices Subodh Abhyankar and Alok Awasthi ruled that Sharma's petition was an \"unjustified abuse of the court's process.\" The court pointed out that Sharma had lodged a missing person report for his son only on May 6, 2025, nearly two months after the alleged disappearance. This delay raised questions about the legitimacy of the petition.\n\nDuring the hearing, Government Advocate Harish Singh Rathore presented evidence showing that Sharma's son had flown to Ahmedabad on April 29, 2025, allegedly taking his girlfriend with him. This revelation led to the filing of a separate habeas corpus petition by the girl's father before the Gwalior bench. Police investigation subsequently uncovered that Sharma's son had taken the girl on the flight from Gwalior to Ahmedabad, resulting in an FIR being registered against Sharma's son, as well as his uncle and aunt.\n\nThe court criticized Sharma's motives, stating that he had filed the writ petition to provide a legal defense for his accused son while concealing the facts about the alleged elopement. Petitioner's counsel Abhishek Mantri argued that Sharma was simply a father unaware of his son's actions or whereabouts, but the court was not convinced by this defense.\n\nJustice Abhyankar emphasized that the extraordinary constitutional remedy of habeas corpus was being misused due to the significant time gap in filing the police complaint and the omission of crucial facts. Consequently, the court dismissed the petition and ordered Sharma to deposit Rs 5,000 in the account of the High Court Employees Union within two weeks.",
  "summary": "Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Terming the petition a “sheer misuse of the process of the court”, the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed a habeas corpus plea filed by a man seeking the recovery of his “missing” son. A division bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar and Justice Alok Awasthi imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on petitioner Rajesh Sharma after police records revealed that his son…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}