Married man elopes with woman in Gujarat, high court orders him to pay 50% police search cost

A married man in Ahmedabad has been ordered by the Gujarat high court to pay half the amount spent by the state government to trace a woman with whom he had eloped more than seven months ago.

The police searched for several months to trace the woman who had eloped with Raghabhai Parmar, according to a media report.

Parmar reportedly disappeared with the 20-year-old woman from Rajkot city in May 2021.

Unable to trace his daughter, the father approached the Gujarat high court for help.

The police search went on for seven months until the woman was finally traced and taken to her parents. During the investigation, the high court learned that Parmar had been already married to someone else.

Rajkot Police informed Gujarat HC that officers invested 17,170 hours into the seven-month investigation, which was followed by an inquiry that lasted for 19 days. They added the amount



spent on the case was Rs 42,000.

In addition, the expenses incurred to remain physically present before the court ran up to Rs 75,000.

This meant, a total of Rs 1,117,500 was spent to bring the woman back to her family.

After the woman was safely returned to her family, the high court decided to recover the amount spent to trace her from Parmar. The recovery order was also a punishment for eloping with the woman and exploiting her despite being married, said reports.

That's not all. The woman's father told the court that he had personally spent Rs 8.06 lakh to trace his daughter.

The high court allowed the father to claim the damages by approaching the appropriate court.

"Though we could have although directed the entire amount to be paid by the petitioner, we deem it appropriate to direct 50% of the said amount which shall be sum of Rs 55,000," the court order read.