If a poor child missing, cops don’t care: SC

• In May 2013, all States, UTs asked to file report on missing children
• Nearly 75,000 children who went missing in 2010-13 remain untraced

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the governments of four states – Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – over their failure to file status reports in cases of missing children.

The Supreme Court, which has summoned the Chief Secretaries of the states, said, “If a child of a high-profile family is missing, hundreds of policemen trace the child within three days. But if the child of a poor man goes missing, police don't even register a FIR (First Information Report).”

The court criticised the governments of Andhra Pradesh and the newly-created Telangana, saying, "How many months have passed after bifurcation (of Andhra Pradesh), still you have not filed your report".

The court's observations came on a petition alleging police inaction in cases of missing children. In May 2013, the court had asked all states to file a report on the status of cases of missing children.

According to government figures in March last year, nearly 75,000 children, who have gone missing in India between 2010 and 2013, remain untraced.

The apex court on August 29 had asked all states and Union Territories to file additional affidavits in compliance of its earlier directions. The NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan had alleged that earlier replies had been incomplete as crucial information like the total number of missing children has not been provided by many states.

The court had directed that an FIR should be registered as soon as information regarding missing of a child is received by police. Further, a photo of the child be uploaded on the 'Child Track website', it had said, adding that there should be a Juvenile Welfare Officer in every police station in the country.