Supreme Court Calls For Dedicated Online Portal To Trace Missing Children

The Supreme Court today called upon the Union Home Ministry to consider establishing a dedicated online portal for addressing cases of kidnapping and child trafficking nationwide.

The apex court emphasized that an alert should be displayed on the website whenever a child goes missing, and recommended creating a central portal for "supervision and control" to help locate missing children.

It suggested that the portal should be designed to allow nodal officers from each State and Union Territory to upload information about missing children immediately after an FIR is filed, triggering a nationwide alert.

Justices BV Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan requested the Centre to submit a proposal regarding this matter at the next hearing.

The bench noted that children missing from one state may be transported to another, necessitating a coordinated approach across jurisdictions.

While advocating for a unified portal, the Supreme Court also invited the Home Ministry to present alternative solutions if they had better options.

These recommendations were made during proceedings on a PIL concerning child trafficking and unresolved cases of missing children documented on the Khoya/Paya portal.

Previously, the Supreme Court had instructed the Centre to issue firm reminders to various States and Union Territories that had failed to provide data on missing children.

The petition highlights the suffering of children who fall victim to organized trafficking networks operating across multiple states.

It alleges that young children from vulnerable families are abducted and sold to traffickers operating through sophisticated inter-State networks.

The petition also references numerous FIRs filed across different States, indicating the extensive nature of this criminal enterprise.

On September 24 last year, the court had directed the Centre to collaborate with stakeholders and gather district-wise and year-wise data on missing children since 2020, when the Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri-MAC) was established.

The requested data included the number of registered cases, recoveries made within the four-month timeframe, pending prosecutions, functioning of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), legal powers granted to these units, and proposed measures for cases with delays or non-recovery.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in an affidavit filed on September 23, 2024, informed the court that advisories were issued to all States and Union Territories on June 25, 2013, addressing prevention, protection, and prosecution aspects of trafficking.

It also reported that special financial assistance had been provided to upgrade or establish Anti-Human Trafficking Units in all districts, and that a national-level communication platform, Cri-MAC, was launched in 2020 to facilitate real-time information sharing on trafficking crimes.