Andhra Pradesh High Court Seeks Detailed Report On Missing Tuni Girl

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the police to file a comprehensive report on the steps taken to trace a minor, Gnaneswari, who went missing from Tuni, and to explain the current status of the investigation.

The court specifically asked authorities to clarify whether the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) -- mandated by the Supreme Court in cases of missing children -- had been strictly followed.

Hearing a petition filed by advocate Srikanth, the court observed that allegations of investigative lapses required closer scrutiny, particularly in cases involving missing minors.

According to the submission bench, the repeated petitioner argued that the police had "failed to trace the missing child despite repeated efforts and passage of time," raising concerns over the effectiveness of the investigation.

Taking note of the submissions, the court directed the police to place before it a detailed status report, including the sequence of actions taken since the complaint was registered, and the current stage of the search operation.

The bench also sought clarity on whether mandatory procedures in missing-child cases, such as immediate registration, coordinated search efforts, and inter-district alerts, were followed from the initial stage.

The High Court further noted that in such cases, authorities are expected to act with urgency and sensitivity, and asked whether the investigation had adhered to the Supreme Court's guidelines on missing children, which require prompt and structured response mechanisms.

During the hearing, the police counsel informed the court that "efforts to trace the girl are continuing," and that teams had been deployed to locate her whereabouts. However, the court was not satisfied with the lack of tangible progress and insisted on a clearer explanation through a written report.

The matter has been posted for further hearing, with the court directing that search operations must continue "without any delay or lapse in procedure" until the next date of hearing.

The petition had earlier alleged that despite formal complaints and follow-up actions, the child's whereabouts "remain unknown and untraced," prompting judicial intervention.

Gnaneswari, a two-year-old toddler, went missing on June 6 from a plantation at CH Agraharam village in Dondavaka Panchayat, where her father works as a caretaker. Despite extensive searches by police, SDRF, NDRF, Forest Department personnel, drone teams and volunteers, no major clue has emerged so far.

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has also reviewed the case and spoke to Kakinada district police officials, while Home Minister V Anitha have also visited the family, assuring all help from the government side.

Additional NDRF teams, forest personnel and wildlife experts are pressed into the search in nearby hillocks, forests, canals, wells and surrounding villages.

Investigators are examining every possible angle, including whether the child wandered away, was taken by someone, or was attacked by a wild animal.

While the search operation continues on a war footing, the question remains what happened to little Gnaneswari.