Instructing Delhi Police to rescue six missing children at any cost, the Supreme Court today said child traffickers need to be brought to justice and that such gangs are very dangerous for society. The bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan has taken up the issue of child trafficking suo motu following a news report pointing to the sale of newborn babies for lakhs.
"Kahin se bhi dhoond ke lao in 6 bacchon ko (Find these six missing kids)," the court told Delhi Police. "Those selling and buying newborn kids must be made accountable. All of them are accused," the court said, adding that such people are a "big threat to society".
Justice Pardiwala referred to Delhi gangs buying and selling newborns and said, "Most dangerous, this is most dangerous."
The court asked Delhi cops to catch the kingpin of the child trafficking racket operating in the national capital. The court noted that news reports indicate that a large gang is operating across Delhi and neighbouring areas to sell newborns at prices ranging between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. Many of those involved, it noted, appear to be habitual offenders.
The court had earlier pulled up the Allahabad High Court over bail to 13 people accused in child trafficking cases. It said the bail applications had been "callously" dealt with and many accused were missing now. The bail orders have now been cancelled. The court has said the accused pose a serious threat to society.
Justice Pardiwala said a child trafficker is more dangerous than a murderer. "If someone kills a person, there is a reason or motive behind it, he may not commit another murder after one murder. But those who kidnap and sell children commit this crime again and again. They are more dangerous," he said.
Delhi Police told the court that some children were not stolen but sold by their parents. The court said that if the children are found and their parents are not ready to keep them back, they will be the state government's responsibility.
During its hearing last week, the court had also said that if a newborn goes missing from the hospital, the first step should be to cancel the hospital's licence.
The top court had given detailed recommendations on tackling child trafficking and asked state governments to implement them at the earliest. "High Courts across the country are directed to call for the status of pending trials in child trafficking cases... Any laxity shown in implementing the directions would be taken seriously and treated as contempt," the court had said.
Justice Pardiwala said parents must be vigilant about their children. "The pain and agony a parent faces when a child dies is different from when a child is lost to gangs of trafficking... when the child dies, the child is with the Almighty, but when lost, they are at the mercy of such gangs," he said.
India reports around 2,000 cases of child trafficking every year. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report, 2250 such cases were reported in 2022. Out of these, most cases were reported in Telangana, Maharashtra and Bihar.
