The state government today told the Calcutta High Court that the police have failed to trace Tahira Khatun,a minor girl who had gone missing a year ago from Kakdip in the South 24 Parganas. During the hearing of a public interest litigation over the issue of the girls who had gone missing from the state,the Calcutta High Court had directed the state government on September 17 to find out Tahira and produce her in the court on November 12. Advocate Pratik Dhar,the counsel for the state government,today said the police and CID had failed to trace the girl despite taking all the required measures. Filing a report on Tahira,Dhar said the police conducted raids in various red light areas in the West Bengal and other states also. The case was taken up by the Calcutta High Court in 2009 after a petition was filed by Johara Bibi, Tahiras mother. After the hearing,the division bench of Chief Justice Jaynarayan Patel and Justice Ashim Kumar Roy asked the state to continue the efforts to find out Tahira. Both the cases,missing of Tahira and the issue of missing girls from the state,came up for hearing before the division bench of the Calcutta High Court today. Advocate General Bolai Roy apprised the court that the Finance department has not taken the final decision on the Rs 28-crore project proposed by the state government to prevent women trafficking in the state. He said he did not have any instruction from the state government on the issue. At this,the court said it would hear the case in the first week of January. During the hearing on September 17,Roy had told the court the governments preparations on its 28-crore project to prevent women trafficking. The proposal of the project was sent to the Finance department for approval. The High Court had then suggested that the project should be approved within four weeks.
