Karnataka: The High Court of Karnataka directed the State Government to take immediate action against unregistered child care institutions. An investigation report traced 141 children missing from a government-affiliated child care institute.
The division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindraj issued a notice to the respondents on a PIL by Rajnanna. The advocate for the petitioner’s side, Advocate Umapati S, submitted that action to trace crimes registered on missing children is not forthcoming.
The plea stated that children missing from these institutions are a lapse by the government. The petitioner received the information under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The plea even claimed that parents of these children are poor and don’t even know that their children are missing. They do not have access to justice.
The information received as per the RTI between October 2015 to October 2021, showed that around 474 children were missing and 141 were still to be traced.
It was asserted that the agencies which are working on this are not following the standard operating procedures. These are laid down by the Supreme Court of India in the case Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India. It was also reported that these children may be exploited or involved in illicit activities.
The plea prays for direction to the respondent to trace the missing children as soon as possible. It demands to initiate action against those responsible for this and to set up a Special Child police.
