Supreme Court passes slew of directions on handling missing children issue

The Supreme Court on Tuesday passed a slew of directions to handle the issue of missing children in the country while asking the government to fill up vacant positions in the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights urgently.

A Social Justice Bench comprising Justices MB Lokur and UU Lalit also appointed the Secretary of Women and Child Development Ministry as the Nodal Officer to coordinate with all the concerned departments of the states and look into their affidavits and file a report before the court.

It directed the nodal officer to ensure the formation of Advisory committees in all states after senior advocate H S Phoolka, appearing for NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, pointed out that even the state commissions and advisory committees formed under the Juvenile Justice Act were non-functional. The court also roped in the services of Faculty of Management Studies of Delhi University, asking its Director to examine the web portal of 'trackthemissingchild' and recommend improvements in it.

Observing that some states like Odisha and Maharashtra have formed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the apex court asked Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) to compile all the SOPs and file a report.

It asked the National Police Academy, situated at Andhra Pradesh, to prepare a module and curriculum for training police officials who were dealing with the issue of missing children. The matter would now be heard on February20 when these reports would be considered by the court. The court's directions came on the NGO's PIL alleging that over 1.7 lakh children have gone missing in the country between January 2008-2010, many of whom were kidnapped for trafficking in flesh trade and child labour.