The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Center to set up a special online portal under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs to detect missing children and investigate such cases. A bench of Justice BV Nagratna and Justice R Mahadevan emphasized the lack of coordination among police officers who have been tasked to detect the missing children in the states and union territories of the country.
The apex court said that the portal may have a dedicated officer from each state who may be in charge of missing complaints besides broadcasting information.
The court emphasized a “coordinated effort” to detect missing children and the need to create a dedicated online portal to deal with this problem. After this, the bench asked the Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati presented by the Center to receive instructions in the matter.
The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Center to remind many states and union territories of providing data on missing children. The NGO ‘Gudiya Swayamsevi Sansthan’ moved the apex court and highlighted the unresolved cases of kidnapped or missing children in addition to the action taken on the basis of information available on the “Khoya/Pa portal” monitored by the Government of India.
The petition cited five cases registered in Uttar Pradesh last year, in which minor boys and girls were abducted and sent to states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan through a network of middlemen.