Supreme Court Directs Centre to Create National Portal for Tracing Missing Children
The Supreme Court has ordered the Union government to establish a dedicated online portal under the Home Ministry to improve the tracking and investigation of missing children cases nationwide. The court highlighted a lack of coordination between state police forces and mandated a centralised system where a designated officer from each state would handle complaints and share information. The directive aims to create a more effective and coordinated national response to the issue of child trafficking and disappearances.
Unpacked:
The directive was prompted by a petition from NGO Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan, which highlighted unresolved cases of kidnapping and trafficking involving children and the lack of effective coordination between state police forces handling such cases.
Currently, cases are tracked through systems like the Khoya/Paya portal, but the Supreme Court noted this was insufficient due to fragmented data and poor coordination between states, leading to unresolved cases and slow responses.
The Supreme Court recommends the portal include alerts for every missing child, have a dedicated officer from each state to upload data as soon as an FIR is filed, and enable real-time information sharing among states and central authorities.
Key challenges include lack of coordination among police across states, incomplete data submission by state authorities, and children often being trafficked across state lines, making tracking and recovery difficult.