The Supreme Court of India directed all police stations to compulsorily register kidnapping cases whenever persons or children go missing, while Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan expressed concern over rising trafficking and untraced children cases, calling the issue insufficiently addressed nationwide.
The Supreme Court has directed every police station in India to compulsorily register a kidnapping case whenever a person or child goes missing. The Court said that the problem of untraced children and trafficking is being dealt with without the seriousness it demands.
A Bench comprising Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan issued these directions after hearing a matter from Tamil Nadu, where a child has remained missing since 2011.
The bench observed,
“It is a massive issue and nobody is realising the seriousness of this matter. People have to be shocked out of their thick-skinness. How can we close our eyes to this reality,”
The Court directed that every complaint regarding a missing person or child must immediately result in the registration of an FIR. It further instructed police not to allow families to search on their own and not to wait for a preliminary inquiry before acting.
The court directed,
“The concerned police station is directed to immediately register a first information report (FIR) with regard to any missing person or child without waiting to carry out a preliminary enquiry or leaving it to the guardian of the missing person to look for them.”
The Bench also ordered that the FIR must mandatorily mention the relevant provision under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to kidnapping of the person or child. It further ruled that if there is sufficient material to suspect trafficking, the matter should be forwarded to Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs).
The Court took note of proposals for a national standard operating procedure (SOP) to manage cases involving missing children. The SOP suggestions were placed before the Court by a committee constituted by it. The committee is led by Justice (retd) Mukta Gupta, a former Judge of the Delhi High Court. It also includes retired IPS officer P. M. Nair and Ministry of Home Affairs director Veerendra Kumar Mishra.
Nair told the Bench that around 47,000 children are presently listed as untraced by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). He submitted that police often fail to explore possible trafficking angles and that missing child cases frequently do not receive adequate attention. He also referred to a previous Supreme Court ruling that allows police to convert a missing person case into a trafficking investigation if the person remains untraced for four months.
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During the hearing, Justice Gupta proposed mandatory Aadhaar verification for all rescued or recovered children. She stated that such verification could help authorities quickly identify children if Aadhaar records are already available, as biometric data can be matched.
The Court accepted the suggestion and ordered,
“The moment any person or child is recovered or rescued, he or she would be taken for Aadhaar verification or making of Aadhaar card.”
It further directed district and state officials to ensure that missing persons and children are reunited with their families without delay, after appropriate verification.
Nair shared an example from Kerala, where a youngster found in a daycare centre turned out to have gone missing from Bihar three years earlier. The Supreme Court stressed that police responsibility does not end with recovery.
The bench said,
“We are not focussing only on recovery but also restoration. The police cannot say I have done my job and leave it to the child welfare centres to do their job. Such complacency on the part of the authorities cannot be tolerated,”
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The Court also instructed the Ministry of Home Affairs to set up a national data grid connecting all police stations through a specialised portal for human trafficking and missing women and children cases. In addition, all Union Territory police chiefs and Directors General of Police (DGPs) were directed to ensure that Anti-Human Trafficking Units are fully functional and empowered to act effectively.
The committee’s convenor, Additional Solicitor General S. D. Sanjay, informed the Court that two other Supreme Court Benches are independently hearing public interest matters connected to child trafficking.
One matter filed by NGO Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan is being heard by a Bench led by Justice B. V. Nagarathna. Another case relating to child trafficking in Uttar Pradesh is before a Bench headed by Justice J. B. Pardiwala. Last year, that latter Bench issued detailed directives to states and Union Territories.
In the Guria case, senior advocate Aparna Bhat told the Court that child trafficking has multiple dimensions and is carried out by organised interstate gangs. The Supreme Court later appointed her to the committee, and directed district legal services authorities, state agencies, and nodal officers across the country to cooperate in implementing the Court’s directions.
The committee sought more time to present additional recommendations, and the Court accordingly scheduled the matter for further hearing in August.
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