The SC has again addressed the issue of increase in missing children in the country by giving significant recommendations

In the case revolving around the writ petition of habeas corpus preferred by the father of a girl child-Ms.Naina Kumari who had been missing for more than five months, the Supreme Court has again addressed the issue of increase in missing children in the country by giving significant recommendations.

As statement of the girl was recorded under section 164 of CrPC today, she emphasized that she had gone with Neeraj out of her own free will. She also stated that she will be turning 18 years of age tomorrow. However the council for the petitioner contends that the girl is about 16 years old.

What does the order says?

• Keeping in view the dispute with regard to the age, the Court directed the police to carry out ossification test of Ms.NainaKumari.
• Pending the report of the ossification test, the police is directed not to take any coercive action against Mr.Neeraj.

Judicial opinion on Ossification Test

The Courts have time and again reiterated that the ossification test is not the conclusive proof of age. However, if corroborated it is a significant piece of evidence.

Courts have taken judicial notice of this fact and have always held that the evidence afforded by radiological examination is no doubt a useful guiding factor for determining the age of a person but the evidence is not of a conclusive and incontrovertible nature and it is subject to a margin of error.

Takeaway from the order

• It has been noticed by this Court that on various occasions involving missing children, the local police / AHTUs functioning at district level typically seem unable to trace missing children, whereas when the investigation is transferred under orders of this Court to AHTU (Crime), typically the missing children are traced.

Guidelines by the Court for the expediting the tracing of missing children

• It is directed that the District AHTUs shall henceforth function as a nodal agency for all cases of missing children in the district concerned.

The District AHTUs shall work in close coordination with the local police, as well as other agencies, providing expert assistance to Investigating Officers, including in respect of collection and analysis of technical evidence.

District AHTUs are currently functioning to investigate

1. cases of children between the ages of 3 to 8 that are missing for four months or more, and
2. cases where there is a suspicion of links to trafficking and organised crime.

In every district, an officer not below the rank of a DCP shall, on a fortnightly basis, review the progress of investigation in every case registered in respect of missing children in the respective districts.

Every Investigating Officer shall be responsible for drawing up and maintaining a Guard File for each case being investigated by them. The ACPs of the District AHTU shall be responsible for submission of such file to the superior officer

An ACP should be nominated at every District AHTU, who shall thereafter, i.e., at least twice a month, analyse the pending as well as closed cases of missing children to identify patterns or other circumstances indicating the likelihood of links to trafficking or organised crime.

Appropriate reports shall be drawn up in this regard every month. The said officer shall, additionally, consider such further and other intelligence as may be required in this regard.

Pro-active steps should be taken by the Delhi Police to curb the menace of missing children.

An Addl. DCP shall be nominated in each district, who shall thereafter hold at least one meeting each month with ACP (AHTU) and the SHOs concerned, to identify sections of their respective districts that are worst affected in terms of missing children.

An appropriate action plan shall be drawn up with inputs from other stakeholders such as NGOs and community leaders for steps to be taken in this regard.

Children rescued under Operation Milap are placed in Children Homes pending their restoration.

As and when a child is placed in a Children Home, the team shall interact with the children within a period of 24 hours, to find details of their family members, in order that steps may be taken towards restoring them.

What is Operation Milap?

Operation Milap was launched in December 2014. Under this project, the Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Delhi Police develops information, rescues the trafficked or kidnapped person and arrests the kidnappers.

The rescued children are then counselled and also given requisite medical attenttion. Police also try to find out the parents of the children rescued, so that they can be reunited with their families.

Development of Laws on missing children in India

The Nithari Case in 2007 brought the plight of missing children and women before the nation. The case was a classic example of how the law enforcement agencies treat the missing persons as regular cases and even fail to recognise a set pattern emerging out of the cases. In this particular Police Station several children and women were reported missing in a span of time and the Police Station failed to recognise that most of them were being killed and exploited in a single house.

In 2009 the Ministry of Women and Child under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme recognised the need of a portal and a network to be created for tracing missing children by including the same in the ICPS policy document. It took the Ministry of Women and Child almost four years to announce the creation of the missing children portal.

In 2012 BachpanBachaoAndolan published a report on missing persons which clearly reflected that the actual number of missing persons are much more than what is being reported in the NCRB Data.

With the ratification of the UN Protocol on Trafficking and India accepting the UN definition of Human Trafficking and also the organised nature of the trafficking syndicates it is imperative that the Government of India should come out with a response plan for tracing missing persons.

West Bengal police also runs a National Portal in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare (http://www.trackthemissingchild.gov.in/) . This portal is dedicated to the cause of tracking missing children. The portal holds the database of missing / recovered children.