The BRICS TimesThe Supreme Court suggested a central platform enabling police from all states and UTs to share missing children data and coordinate investigations effectively.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the central government to establish a dedicated online platform aimed at tracing missing children. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) may appoint an officer to ensure smooth coordination between states for this initiative.
The matter was heard in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by non-profit Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan, which highlighted the increasing number of missing children cases across multiple states, many of whom remain untraced.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan observed, “Currently, police units across states and union territories lack coordination in tracking children, resulting in trafficked children not being recovered promptly or at all.”
The court proposed creating a unified platform where all state and UT police units can consolidate missing children information and share investigation strategies.
“In order to make efforts to locate missing children more coordinated, we believe a central portal under the Union of India is necessary. A dedicated officer could manage missing children data and circulate information to officers in all states and UTs,” the bench stated.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, assured the court that she would seek instructions on the proposal and respond accordingly.
“I will discuss with officers, formulate a plan, and consult the states as needed,” Bhati said.
The case is scheduled for the next hearing in the third week of October.
The court clarified that it did not wish to assign this responsibility to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which already has a heavy workload.
“There needs to be a network connecting police across all states where child trafficking occurs. Traffickers often move children across states, zones, or even abroad. A proper mechanism must be devised,” the bench noted.
Senior advocate Aparna Bhatt, assisting as amicus curiae, highlighted that although the Centre had launched the Khoya Paya Portal in 2015 as a centralized database for missing children, it failed to facilitate inter-state investigation coordination.
“Traffickers are ahead of the law. The petitioner organisation has shown similar operations in multiple cases of missing children in Uttar Pradesh and Telangana,” Bhatt added.
