Supreme Court of India. (IANS Photo)
New Delhi, January 21 (IANS): Expressing concern over the alarming number of missing children cases across the country, the Supreme Court has said that authorities were not giving such incidents the "right amount of attention or priority" and indicated that it would work towards evolving a common Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for their recovery.
A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan was hearing a plea filed by a Tamil Nadu man seeking the recovery of his daughter, who went missing in September 2011 at the age of one year and ten months and has not been traced so far.
"From the submission of learned counsel for the parties and the material on record, it transpires that the state has now woken up to the problem, and in the present case, certain steps have been taken which are in the right direction,” the Justice Amanullah-led Bench observed in its order.
Noting that while the Tamil Nadu government had taken certain steps, the Supreme Court said that the issue required a nationwide response, stating: "We find that such incidents are rampant all over the country and probably the right amount of attention or priority is not being given by the authorities concerned in such matters, which concerns us."
It ordered that the Union of India, through the Union Home Secretary, and all state governments and Union Territories (UTs), through their respective Home Secretaries, be impleaded as party respondents in the matter.
"The endeavour of the court would be to evolve a common Standard Operating Procedure, which is required to be put in place, as time is of great essence in such matters and is the most vital element in such cases, if at all there can be any real chances of recovery of such missing children," the bench said.
In its order, the apex court added that it expected the steps already initiated by the Tamil Nadu government in the present case to be pursued "in right earnest".
Treating the matter as part-heard, the Supreme Court listed it for further consideration on March 10.
The plea has been pending before the apex court since August 2025. Earlier, the Justice Amanullah-led Bench had repeatedly stressed the need for a focused and professional investigation, including inputs from senior retired police officers and the petitioner himself.
In November last year, the state government’s counsel informed the top court that it was using artificial intelligence tools to trace the missing child and that information was being shared with other states to aid the search.
