File detailed report on missing children: Madras High Court to DGP, Home dept

The division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayan and Justice N Seshasayee passed the above direction on a habeas corpus petition pending since 2016. The plea pertained to the theft of two children who were sleeping on the pavement with their parents. The then bench on expanding the scope of the petition had sought reports on the functioning of the anti-child trafficking units and directed payment of compensation to the parents of such missing children, if the case remained undetected.

Based on this, the bench presently hearing the case on perusing the counter report filed by both the Home Department and Assistant Inspector General of Police, Law and Order, said, “Despite the fact that the State of Tamil Nadu is also a party to the decisions of the Supreme Court in the above cases, it prima facie appears that no proper and effective steps have been taken to address the problem of child missing/trafficking and exploitation cases.”

Also, directing the DGP and the Home Department to file details of the progress of the investigation made in the cases filed by anti-child trafficking units (ACTU) and the status of those arrested, the bench said, “It is high time that the concerned departments bestowed their best attention and showed some sensitivity to the problems, especially by taking into consideration the anxiety of the parents/guardians, whose children are missing and untraceable for a quite long time.”

“We are also of the view that disbursal of the fund created under the head ‘Juvenile Justice Fund’ is also very much on the lower side and the disbursal mechanism also is not functioning properly,” the bench added, before adjourning the case for further hearing to August 24, 2018.

The report filed by the Home Department submitted that based on GO issued on March 2, 2017 a total of 43 ACTU’s has been formed. A corpus fund of Rs 25 lakh as per Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of Children) Act, 2015 for the welfare and rehabilitation of children was created on November 28, 2016.

Also, based on the High Court direction on August 12, 2016 which instructed payment of compensation to the parents of 39 untraced missing children, a sanction of Rs 73 lakh has been made and two victims of sexual abuse have been paid Rs 10,000 each for their immediate medical needs on April 4, 2018.

The report further claimed that 87 per cent of missing boys and girls were traced in 2017, while during 2018, 75 per cent of the reported cases of missing boys and girls were solved up to June and the rescued children restored to their guardians.