The Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report on nine girls going missing within a span of 48 hours in Ludhiana.The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor directed the State of Punjab to file, within 10 days, an affidavit of the Deputy Commissioner concerned with regard to the allegations contained in the newspaper report and the steps taken in the matter.“Suo motu cognisance has been taken of a newspaper report highlighting that nine girls have gone missing within a span of 48 hours at Ludhiana. The newspaper report in this regard was published on May 31,” the Bench observedThe court added: “In the facts of the case, we call upon the State of Punjab to file an affidavit of the Deputy Commissioner concerned, with regard to the allegations contained in the newspaper report and the steps taken in this regard, within a period of 10 days from today.”The case will now come up for further hearing on July 23.