States ordered to file action taken report by Oct 9
Police effort to track missing children is a success only where the child belongs to “aristocratic” family, remarked the Supreme Court on Wednesday as it examined State by State where thousands of children have been missing for years and untraced till date.
Giving States time till October 9 to report on the complaints registered on missing children, action taken, and steps initiated at police station level to involve NGOs and para-legal volunteers in the task of tracing out missing children, the bench headed by Justice Hl Dattu posted a PIl filed in this regard by NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan on October 16.
In a critique over the police action to handle missing cases, the bench said, “If the missing child is of an aristocratic person or when it comes to people with money, thousands of policemen are there and you trace the child in three days.” The bench referred to a case from Gurgaon where a weathy doctor’s son was traced out by Haryana Police in three days.
The NGO claimed over 1.7 lakh children went missing in the country from 2008-2010, many of whom were kidnapped for trafficking in flesh trade and child labour. The bench took a serious note of the situation and even summoned Chief Secretaries of some states that did not comply with Court orders of January 17 and May 10 last year. However, as a last opportunity it allowed states to respond by next date.