New Delhi:
In view of growing number of minors getting involved in various offences, the Supreme Court today directed that a special officer be appointed in every police station across the country to deal with juveniles.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir also directed that the police must register First Information Report and conduct probe in every case of missing child and a unit of specially trained police officers be formed in each district to handle cases relating to juveniles.
It said that such officers would be in plain clothes and work in coordination with Child Welfare Committees.
The Court passed the order on a PIL filed by an NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan alleging that for 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.
The Supreme Court had on March 16 last issued notice to the Centre, States and Union Territories directing them to file their responses on the issue of missing children.
But the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu failed to file their replies.
Giving a final opportunity, the court directed those states to file their response by February 5 while making it clear that if they failed to do so then their Chief Secretary would have to appear before it.
Senior advocate H S Phoolka, appearing for the NGO, pleaded that the Supreme Court should direct the Centre and States to formulate a national plan to tackle the menace and also to define the term 'missing children', which he said has so far not been explicitly done in any statute.
Quoting statistics including the NCRB (National Crime Research Bureau), he said, between January 2008 to January 2010, 1,17,480 children have gone missing in 392 districts in the country and out of these, 41,546 are still untraced.
"These children are trafficked for various types of exploitation including forced labour, commercial sexual exploitation, illegal adoption racket, organ trade and medical testing," the petitioner said.
The NGO claimed that the number of missing children in India is about 90,000 every year with more than 30,000 remaining untraced with It said West Bengal accounted for the largest number of cases, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
In 2009, the Delhi High Court had approved a Standard Operating Procedure( SOP) of the Delhi police which made it mandatory for the cops to register an FIR on any complaint of "missing" child below the age of 18 years, but the rule was not applicable to the rest of the country.
The petition urged the Supreme Court to direct the Government to come out with a national action plan by adopting the SOP and treat the offence of kidnapping or trafficking of children as non-bailable and cognizable offence.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir also directed that the police must register First Information Report and conduct probe in every case of missing child and a unit of specially trained police officers be formed in each district to handle cases relating to juveniles.
It said that such officers would be in plain clothes and work in coordination with Child Welfare Committees.
The Court passed the order on a PIL filed by an NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan alleging that for 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.
The Supreme Court had on March 16 last issued notice to the Centre, States and Union Territories directing them to file their responses on the issue of missing children.
But the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu failed to file their replies.
Giving a final opportunity, the court directed those states to file their response by February 5 while making it clear that if they failed to do so then their Chief Secretary would have to appear before it.
Senior advocate H S Phoolka, appearing for the NGO, pleaded that the Supreme Court should direct the Centre and States to formulate a national plan to tackle the menace and also to define the term 'missing children', which he said has so far not been explicitly done in any statute.
Quoting statistics including the NCRB (National Crime Research Bureau), he said, between January 2008 to January 2010, 1,17,480 children have gone missing in 392 districts in the country and out of these, 41,546 are still untraced.
"These children are trafficked for various types of exploitation including forced labour, commercial sexual exploitation, illegal adoption racket, organ trade and medical testing," the petitioner said.
The NGO claimed that the number of missing children in India is about 90,000 every year with more than 30,000 remaining untraced with It said West Bengal accounted for the largest number of cases, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
In 2009, the Delhi High Court had approved a Standard Operating Procedure( SOP) of the Delhi police which made it mandatory for the cops to register an FIR on any complaint of "missing" child below the age of 18 years, but the rule was not applicable to the rest of the country.
The petition urged the Supreme Court to direct the Government to come out with a national action plan by adopting the SOP and treat the offence of kidnapping or trafficking of children as non-bailable and cognizable offence.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
