Supreme Court expressed concern over a report claiming “every eight minutes, a child goes missing” and told the Centre to streamline the adoption system. The Court ordered the government to appoint a nodal officer for missing children by December 9.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 18, raised serious concern after reading a news report that claimed that
“every eight minutes, a child goes missing in the country”.
Calling it an important national issue, the court said the government must immediately improve the system for tracing missing children and make the adoption process easier.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan noted that the adoption process in India is extremely complicated, and because of this, many people try to bypass the legal route.
Justice Nagarathna said during the hearing,
“I have read in a newspaper that every eight minutes, a child goes missing in the country. I don’t know if this is true or not. But this is a serious issue.”
The judges observed that when legal adoption becomes difficult, people may turn to illegal methods to get a child, which increases the danger for children who go missing.
The bench made it clear that the government must act quickly to protect children and ensure smoother and safer adoption procedures.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, asked the court to grant six weeks to appoint a nodal officer who would handle cases of missing children nationwide.
However, the Supreme Court refused this request and directed the Centre to finish the process by December 9, stressing that the matter cannot be delayed.
Earlier, on October 14, the court had instructed the Union government to ensure that all States and Union Territories appoint a nodal officer specifically to deal with missing-child cases.
It also asked that the names and contact details of these officers be published on the Mission Vatsalya portal run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The bench further directed that when any complaint about a missing child is registered on the portal, the information must be shared immediately with the nodal officer of the concerned State or UT.
The Supreme Court had previously asked the Centre to create a special online portal under the Ministry of Home Affairs dedicated to tracing missing children and carrying out investigations.
The bench highlighted that there is a major lack of coordination among police forces in different States and UTs, which slows down the tracing process.
According to the court, such a portal should have one officer from each State who would be responsible for handling missing-child complaints and sharing important information in real time.
This entire matter came before the Supreme Court after the NGO Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan filed a petition. The organisation drew attention to many pending cases of children going missing, kidnapped, or trafficked.
The NGO also asked the court to direct authorities to take action based on information already available on the government’s Khoya/Paya portal, which keeps records of missing and found children across India.
To support its petition, the NGO presented details of five cases from Uttar Pradesh recorded last year. In these incidents, minor boys and girls were kidnapped and trafficked through a network of middlemen to other States, including Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
The petition stated that these cases show how organised and widespread child trafficking networks can be, and it urged the court to ensure quicker and more coordinated responses from law-enforcement agencies.
With the Supreme Court now pushing for stronger mechanisms, better coordination, and faster action, the government is under pressure to improve the system that protects India’s missing children and to make the adoption process more transparent, efficient, and safe.
Read More Reports On Missing Child
FOLLOW US ON YOUTUBE FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES
