The Supreme Court urges the Center to create a dedicated online portal to trace and track missing children nationwide, ensuring better coordination, faster action, and enhanced child safety across India.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday directed the Center to create a dedicated online portal under the Ministry of Home Affairs to trace missing children and investigate related cases efficiently. The move highlights the judiciary’s growing concern over the rising number of missing children cases and the lack of coordination among authorities.
A bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan emphasized that existing efforts to trace missing children across states and union territories lack proper coordination. According to the bench, the portal could include a dedicated officer from each state responsible for overseeing missing children complaints and disseminating relevant information promptly.
The court stressed the importance of a coordinated national effort in tracing missing children, noting that the current system often fails due to fragmented approaches and delayed reporting.
Role of the Center
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Center, was asked to obtain instructions regarding the development and implementation of the portal. Previously, the Supreme Court had directed the Center to remind several states and union territories to provide updated data on missing children, highlighting a systemic delay in data reporting.
The petition, filed by the NGO Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan, underscored unresolved cases of kidnapping and missing children. The NGO pointed to the ‘Khoya/Paya portal’, which monitors missing children cases nationwide, and cited five specific cases from Uttar Pradesh last year. In these cases, minor boys and girls were kidnapped and trafficked through networks of middlemen to other states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
The petition argued that effective use of technology and a dedicated national portal could prevent delays in investigations and save children from falling prey to trafficking networks.