Father moves Gujarat High Court to trace 41-year-old son missing since March

While it is common for the courts to get cases related to minors eloping from home over love affair and their parents approaching it to get them traced, it was a different case altogether that came up for hearing on Thursday—a father had approached the court to get back his 41-year-old son who had left home in March and remained untraceable since then.

As per the case details, the son, Rakesh (name changed), a garment businessman, residing in Mumbai along with his wife and son. He used to run his business along with two other partners. Rakesh used to frequently come to his native place in Sabarkantha and help his father in social service. During one such trip to Sabarkantha to stay with his family, he went missing since March 28.

Eventually, a missing complaint was registered with the local police and in the meantime, Rakesh's father came to know about a financial dispute between his son and one of his business partners. Unhappy with the police's effort to trace his son, the father moved to court, which in-turn directed police to intensify its efforts and trace Rakesh.

On Thursday, when he was produced by the police before the court, the judges inquired from Rakesh on why he left his home and remained untraceable. The chemical engineer told the court that "I used to live in a joint family and I could not find a way to tell my family about the monetary loss. Since they would have asked me about the money and I had no answers, I decided to leave home. I have no problem or dispute with my father." Following this, the court, while disposing of the matter, remarked that both the father-son duo is mature and not a minor who has eloped from home. The court directed the father not to ask anything about the money and asked the son to resolve the issue.