Go to local magistrate first, Supreme Court tells habeas corpus petitioner

Wife illegally confined by her father, alleges man.

The Supreme Court has questioned the decision of a man to directly file a habeas corpus plea in the top court to free a woman, who he claims to be his lawfully wedded wife, from her father’s “wrongful confinement”, instead of first approaching the local magistrate to issue a search warrant for her. A Vacation Bench led by Justice Dinesh Maheshwari referred to Section 97 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers any district magistrate, sub-divisional magistrate or magistrate to issue a search warrant for a person the court “has reason to believe” to be under wrongful confinement. Justice Maheshwari said Section 97 had become a “dead letter” because people were taking short-cuts like directly approaching the Supreme Court for relief.