Raju Rama Pargi (right), 13, was in the midst of being trafficked to work in cotton fields, when police stopped the car he was in. He has since returned to school in Dungapur, India. Photo:UNICEF India/
“Nobody seems to be concerned about the missing children. This is the irony,” stated a bench of the Supreme Court on Feb 5. The remark is indicative of the apathy shown by the Centre and state governments toward the issue of missing children. The court had directed the Centre and the various states to file status reports on the status of the missing children in the country and in their states in March 2012. The notices were issued by Justices Altamas Kabir and SS Nijjar in response to a Public Interest Litigation by the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan on the escalating numbers of missing children in India. Unfortunately, a year later, these status reports are still to be filed by the Centre and several state governments.
The Supreme Court, taking serious note of the absence of the chief secretaries of Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu despite being directed to be physically present and not through their counsels, threatened to issue non bailable arrest warrants against them. The West Bengal counsel incidentally submitted that the status report had not been filed since there was no instruction, which the SC took exception to. Of the five States whose chief secretaries had been specifically asked to be present, only the chief secretaries of Goa and Orissa were present. Not only the Centre but also the governments of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Uttrakhand, West Bengal and Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, NCT of Delhi and Lakhshadweep have not filed their status reports, the court noted. Read More>
Where Are Our Missing Children?
In India, a child goes missing every eight minutes, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau. Almost 40 percent of those children haven’t been found.
Where Do The Missing Children Of Delhi Go?
Into forced farm labour in western Uttar Pradesh, finds Priyanka Dubey
Unprecedented migration is feeding child trafficking like never before, reports Divya Gupta
Innocence Lost In Quagmire Of Greed And Police Apathy
The issue of missing children is now one of the biggest threats in Delhi. The situation is engineered by lack of proper basic facilities for children and negligence of the police, report Soumik Mukherjee and Shonali Ghosal Read More>
Sir, there parents must be punished for not caring their children. NASBANDI is the proper punishment.