The Supreme Court today asked the Union Home Ministry to consider bringing in a dedicated online portal to deal with cases of Kidnapping and child trafficking from across the country.
The top court stated that an alert must be displayed on the website every time a child goes missing, and that a central portal should be established for "supervision and control" to facilitate the tracing of missing children.
It proposed that the portal should function in such a manner that nodal officers from each State and Union Territory can upload data on missing children as soon as an FIR is registered and an alarm is raised at a national level.
The bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan asked the Centre to present a proposal at the next hearing.
The bench today said that one child missing from a state may be taken to another state, so a coordinated effort is needed.
While suggesting a unified portal, the top court also asked Home Ministry to come up with a better suggestion if they have any.
The court made these suggestions in a PIL on child trafficking and unresolved cases of missing children recorded on the Khoya/Paya portal.
The top Court had previously directed the Centre to issue strong reminders to several States and Union Territories that have not furnished data relating to missing children.
The petition highlights the plight of children who are victims of organised trafficking networks operating across multiple states.
The petition alleges that young children from vulnerable families are kidnapped and sold to traffickers who operate through a well-organised inter-State network.
It also refers to multiple FIRs filed across different States that indicate the scale of the racket.
On September 24 last, the court had directed the Centre to coordinate with stakeholders and collect district-wise and year-wise data on missing children since 2020, the year the Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri-MAC) was launched.
The data sought included the number of registered cases, recoveries made within the stipulated four-month period, the number of pending prosecutions, functioning of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), powers vested in these units under the law, and measures proposed in cases of delay or non-recovery.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its affidavit filed on September 23, 2024, had 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 stated that special financial assistance had been provided to upgrade or set up Anti-Human Trafficking Units in all districts and that a national-level communication platform, Cri-MAC, was launched in 2020 for real-time information sharing on trafficking crimes.
