New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to create a dedicated online portal under the aegis of the home ministry to trace missing children and investigate such cases.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan emphasised the lack of coordination among police authorities entrusted with the job of tracing missing children in states and union territories in the country.
The court said the portal could have a dedicated officer from each state who could be in charge of missing complaints besides disseminating information.
The bench outlined the need for a "coordinated effort" to trace missing children and creation of a dedicated online portal to deal with the issue.
The court asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, to seek instructions in the matter.
The court previously directed the Centre to issue reminders to several states and union territories to furnish data on missing children cases.
NGO Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan had moved the top court and highlighted unresolved cases of kidnapping or missing children besides the actions required to be taken on the basis of information available with the 'Khoya/Paya portal' monitored by the government of India.
The petition illustrated its argument with five cases registered in Uttar Pradesh last year in which minor boys and girls were kidnapped and trafficked through a network of middlemen to states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.