The National Commission for Women has directed the Bihar police to track down a twice-married woman, Kanchan Mishra, who was allegedly forced into wedlock with a criminal, Sultan Mian.

An NCW team led by Chairperson Purnima Advani arrived in Patna on Monday. Advani held discussions with top officials, including Director General Of Police R R Prasad, Senior Superintendent of Police, Patna, Sunil Kumar, and others. She asked the police to find Mishra so that the truth could be established.

The officials told her they did not know where the two were. "Sultan Mian is absconding and Kanchan must be with him. We have no idea," an official said.

According to the police, Mian married Mishra at a mosque in Mainpura locality in Patna on November 6. But the police said that there was no evidence that Kanchan was forcibly married, as even her mother, Suchitra Devi, had not filed a complaint.

Devi, who appeared before the commission along with the ten-month-old-son of Mishra, said she not know where her daughter was.

"Kanchana's marriage [to Mian] appears to be a cooked story because she was already twice-married. She had not divorced her previous two husbands. Where is the question of forced marriage?" asked a police official.

Some ministers and police officials were backing Mian, local media reports said. The reports even said that a senior inspector was present at the marriage.