One child goes missing every 8 minutes in the country is a serious issue : Supreme Court

New Delhi – The Supreme Court has expressed serious concern over a report stating that one child goes missing every eight minutes in the country. A bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice R. Mahadevan stated that this is an extremely serious matter. The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to simplify the adoption process in the country.

The bench also remarked that because the adoption process is very strict, people resort to illegal methods, which leads to an increase in wrongful activities.

Earlier, on October 14, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre that all states and union territories must appoint ‘nodal officers’ for missing children cases and publish their details on the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s ‘Mission Vatsalya Portal’. Appearing for the Central Government, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati requested six weeks to appoint the nodal officers; however, the court rejected the request and ordered that the process be completed by December 9.

The NGO ‘Guria’ had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The petition drew the court’s attention to the action taken in unresolved cases of missing or abducted children based on information available on the Centre’s ‘Khoya-Paya Portal’.