An ITI-trained assistant engineer from Mankhurd has filed a habeas corpus petition in the Bombay HC, seeking directions to the Vashi police and other respondents, including the Mumbai commissioner of police and the Mangalore police, to produce his wife, Reshma, in court and decide if she would stay with him or her parents. The petitioner, Iqbal Chaudhary married his Facebook friend Reshma, who was from Mangalore and belonged to another religion, in July 2017. On December 17, four unknown persons kidnapped Reshma near Orbit Mall in Vashi. The petitioner suspected his in-laws could be behind the kidnapping and so he filed a complaint with the Vashi police. According to him, instead of finding her, the police started questioning his religious beliefs and whether he had ever visited the controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik, following which he approached the HC. On Sunday, he received a phone call from his wife, saying that she was at a relative’s house in Kerala. “It was a very short conversation in which she informed me that she has been kept at a relative’s house in Kerala but was not aware about the exact location,” Chaudhary told this newspaper. “We have filed the petition and will mention it before the vacation bench of the Bombay HC,” said Chaudhary’s lawyer Hasnen Kazi. In August, Chaudhary filed a complaint with local police saying four armed persons had barged into his house after breaking open the door, but the couple was saved. But on December 17, unknown persons kidnapped Reshma.