One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: A missing person case in India starts with a written complaint at the police station covering the last place the person was seen. The police must record it, and where the facts suggest a crime, they must register an FIR. If the police sit on the complaint, a friend or relative can move the High Court under Article 226 with a habeas corpus petition and and ask the court to direct the police to produce the person or file a status report on what they have done so far. There is no court fee for a habeas corpus petition, and courts list these matters quickly because the person's whereabouts are unknown with every passing day.
I have to keep the specifics of that file to myself, so what follows is the law as it stands and how it applies to a situation like the one the family came in with.
Key facts at a glance
- A missing person complaint is written information about a person whose whereabouts are unknown. It goes to the station house officer of the police station where the person was last seen.
- The police must record it. A verbal complaint is enough for the police to reduce it to writing, and you are entitled to a free copy of what they record.
- Where the facts point to a crime — a child, a woman, an elderly person with dementia, someone who vanished after a threat — an FIR should follow, not just a station diary entry.
- If the police do nothing, the High Court's writ jurisdiction under Article 226 is the usual route. The Supreme Court's Article 32 jurisdiction is available too, but the High Court is closer and faster.
- There is no limitation period for a habeas corpus petition. Delay does not kill it, though it does weaken the urgency you can press for.
- For an adult who has left of their own free will, the police and the courts will be slower. That is a real limit, not a rumour.
What actually happens when you walk into a police station
The officer at the counter will ask you for three things: who the person is, when and where you last saw them, and what makes you think something is wrong. Have those answers on paper.
Under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — the provision that replaced Section 154 of the old CrPC — information about a cognizable offence is to be recorded in writing, read back to the informant, and signed. If the officer refuses to register it, that refusal is itself a grievance you can take to the Superintendent of Police and, failing that, to the Magistrate.
The dividing line that matters most in these cases is between a missing report and an FIR. A station diary entry or a general diary entry records that someone came and said a person is missing. An FIR sets the investigative machinery in motion — a case number, an investigating officer, a case diary, obligations that can be reviewed by a court.
Where the person missing is a child, the standard position is that an FIR must be registered. A "missing report" is not an acceptable substitute, and the police cannot ask the family to wait 24 hours. There is no 24-hour rule anywhere in Indian law. That rule belongs to television.
Whenever a complaint of this kind is filed, the police are expected to enter the details into the crime and criminal tracking network, circulate the description to neighbouring districts and railway and bus stations, and upload the particulars to the national missing persons database maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau, which the public can search. In practice, whether this happens depends on the station. Ask, in writing, what has been entered and where.
Bring these documents with you
- A recent clear photograph of the missing person.
- Proof of identity and your relationship to them — ration card, Aadhaar, passport, marriage certificate, birth certificate.
- The last known address, workplace or institution, and the last confirmed place and time they were seen.
- Their mobile number, and any call or message that concerned you.
- Names and numbers of friends, relatives and colleagues who might know something.
- Medical context if it is relevant — a psychiatric condition, medication, dementia, a disability.
Write the complaint yourself before you go. Two pages at most. Facts, dates, plain language. Hand over one copy and ask for the acknowledgement on your copy.
Is a missing person case in India something the police can refuse to register?
They should not refuse, and the two excuses you will hear most often are jurisdiction and the 24-hour wait. Neither holds.
A police station cannot turn you away because the person went missing outside its limits. The complaint should be registered there and then transferred, or a Zero FIR registered and forwarded to the station with jurisdiction. Several states run this as a standing instruction, and courts have repeatedly said jurisdiction is not a reason to send a frightened family away.
The 24-hour wait has no legal basis either. The reason it survives is that in many adult cases the person turns up within a day, so the police prefer to wait. That preference is not a rule you have to accept, and where a child or a vulnerable adult is involved it is plainly the wrong approach.
If the officer still refuses, ask for the refusal in writing. That single request changes the temperature of the conversation. If it is still refused, a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police is the next step, and a complaint to the Magistrate under the BNSS is available after that.
Moving the High Court: the habeas corpus petition
Habeas corpus is a command to produce the body of a person. In a missing person matter, the prayer is usually framed as a direction to the police to trace the person, produce them before the court, and file a status report setting out the steps taken.
Who can file? A friend, relative, spouse, colleague, or any person with a genuine interest in the missing person. You do not need to be a guardian or a next friend in any technical sense. Standing is generously interpreted in these matters.
What the court does in the first few hearings is straightforward. It issues notice to the state and to the police station concerned, asks for a status report within a fixed time, and lists the matter again. If the status report is thin, the court will push. If the person is traced, the petition is disposed of. If the person is traced and says they left of their own accord, the court will usually record that and close the matter — an adult is entitled to decide where they live, even if the family disagrees.
How long does it take? A habeas petition is not a five-year litigation. Courts list these quickly, and a first effective hearing within a few weeks is realistic in most High Courts. That said, the actual tracing depends on the police, and courts can only push so hard. If the person has crossed state lines or the trail is cold, the investigation may go nowhere for months.
There is no court fee for filing a writ petition of this kind in most High Courts, though you will pay for drafting, notarisation, copies and the advocate's fee. Any figure quoted to you should be given to you in writing before the work starts.
Where the investigation goes, and where it stalls
Once an FIR exists, the investigating officer works the usual trail — call detail records, bank and travel activity, the last known contacts, CCTV along the route, hospitals and mortuaries. The police can also seek help from other states, and in cross-border cases, from central agencies, though getting there takes time and usually needs a court's nudge.
Where the case stalls is predictable. The last sighting is vague. The phone was switched off, not lost. The person had been withdrawn for weeks. Nothing in the file looks like an offence. In those files the police will do the basic checks and then the file sits.
This is why the status report matters so much. It converts a vague "we are trying" into a document the court can test, and it gives you a record of what was actually done — or not done.
The seven-year question
People often come in asking whether they can get a death certificate or remarry after a missing person has not been heard of for years. The law allows a presumption of death where a person has not been heard of for seven years by those who would naturally have heard of them, provided the person was alive when the period began and reasonable steps were taken to find them.
That presumption is used for succession, insurance and matrimonial matters. It is not a substitute for a missing person case, and it does not stop the police investigation. It also attaches to the specific person before the court, not to missing persons in general, so the evidence of efforts to trace them matters.
When the family is divided
Some of the hardest files are the ones where one parent has taken a child, or an adult has left a marriage and does not want to be found. Here the habeas petition often becomes a custody or matrimonial proceeding in substance, whatever it is called on the cause title. If that is your situation, both the criminal side and the family side need to be looked at together, because a direction obtained on one side can undercut your position on the other. Our chamber handles the criminal side; family and matrimonial matters are handled by Adv. Jyoti Rao, Bar Council of Delhi D/891/2023.
What you should do in the first week
- Day one: file the written complaint at the station where the person was last seen. Get the acknowledgement or CSR number on your copy.
- Day one: also dial 112 and, if a child is missing, 1098. A parallel record helps.
- Day two: collect the photograph, IDs, contact list and call records, and hand a set to the investigating officer.
- Day three or four: call the station and ask, on record, what has been entered and what checks have been run.
- Week one: if nothing has moved, send a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police and keep the postal receipt.
- After that: a habeas corpus petition in the High Court is the next step, and it should not be delayed for months on the hope that the police will get there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the police say no because the person went missing in another state?
No. The complaint should be registered at the station approached, and either transferred or registered as a Zero FIR and forwarded to the station with jurisdiction. If the officer refuses on that ground, ask for the refusal in writing and escalate to the Superintendent of Police.
Is there a fee for filing a missing person complaint?
No. Registering a complaint or an FIR is free, and you are entitled to a copy of what is recorded without payment. Some states charge a small fee for certified copies later, but that is a separate thing.
Can I file the habeas corpus petition myself?
You can, and courts do allow a person to appear in person in writ matters. It is not advisable in a case where the state will be represented by a standing counsel and where the prayer has to be framed precisely, because a badly framed petition gets a weak status report.
What if the person left on their own and does not want to come back?
If the person is an adult of sound mind, the court will record their statement, satisfy itself that they are not in illegal confinement, and close the petition. The family's wish does not override that. The petition can still be the fastest way to establish that the person is safe, which is usually what the family actually wants to know.
Can the police keep the case open indefinitely without telling us anything?
They can let it go quiet if nobody pushes. That is precisely the situation a status report and periodic listings are meant to prevent. If the file has gone cold, mention that to the court and ask for a specific direction — a named officer, a fresh line of inquiry, a fixed date.
Does the missing person case in India have to be filed where the person lived?
No. The natural place is the station covering the last place the person was seen, because that is where the trail begins. The station nearest the informant's home will also take a complaint, though it may transfer the file, and that transfer is not a reason for the family to wait.
What is the realistic outcome?
On these facts I cannot tell you whether there is a case to be built. Many missing person matters end with the person traced alive, some end with no trace for years, and some turn into a criminal investigation that runs its own course. Courts can direct the police and hold them to account; courts cannot promise that a person will be found. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something.
Getting in touch
If you are in this position now, send the chamber three things: the complaint you filed and its date, the acknowledgement or CSR number the police gave you, and a two-line note on the last confirmed sighting. If there is a status report or any order already passed, include that too. You can reach us through /contact-us or book a consultation at /book. An initial read of the papers is usually enough to tell you whether the next step is another representation to the police or a petition in the High Court.
This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Facts differ, and a missing person matter turns on details that cannot be assessed without the papers.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India
Facing a similar matter? Speak to a Delhi criminal defence lawyer — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.