“Grave concern”: SC seeks action on missing children from states, UTs since 2020
The petition highlighted the problem by presenting five cases registered at Uttar Pradesh last year where minor boys and girls were abducted and transported through a network of middlemen
Calling it a matter of “grave concern”, the Supreme Court on Tuesday has ordered all state and union territories to furnish details from 2020 on the number of missing children, those found, and the mechanism available at district level to track them.
Passing directions on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a non-government organisation Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan, a bench headed by justice Hrishikesh Roy said, “Multiple first information reports (FIRs) have been filed in different states which indicates well-entrenched inter-state network of child trafficking. There are people to arrange for their abduction so that they can be handed over for valuable consideration. What is stated in the petition gives a correct picture which definitely points to a situation of grave concern.”
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The petition argued by advocate Aparna Bhatt highlighted the problem by presenting five cases registered at Uttar Pradesh last year where minor boys and girls were abducted and transported through a network of middlemen to states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The bench, also comprising justice SVN Bhatti, directed all states and UTs to provide information to the Centre on the number of missing cases of children from 2020.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Centre said that this portal was in addition to the Khoya-Paya portal launched in 2015 to exclusively deal with information on missing children. She said that if a child remains missing for a period of four months, the case is forwarded to the anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU) in each district across the country.
The bench further asked the states and UTs to provide information on whether the AHTUs have been set up and what powers have been vested with them to handle such cases.
The information shared by states will be compiled by ASG Bhati and presented to the court on the next date of the hearing, expected to be in October.