HC seeks status report on two children missing since Oct 2011

Expressing anguish over “insensitivity” and failure in tracing two children, missing since October last year, the Delhi High Court on Monday sought a status report from the police on the case.

“Police should have been more sensitive in taking steps to trace the minor children of the petitioner, instead of fulfilling the formalities of the standing order,” said a vacation bench of justicess.

Entrusting a police officer of the rank of additional commissioner the task of personally monitoring the case, the bench asked him to file status report in three days.

The petitioner wanted to know the fate of his children. “Additional commissioner of police, West District is to file a status report by June 18," the bench said.

The bench made the observation after the Additional Commissioner of Police told the court that the police have taken various measures, including flashing out wireless messages to all police stations across Delhi, giving advertisement about the missing children in newspapers and apprising the police cell for missing children, besides taking other steps as per a 2008 order of the police on missing children.

The court’s order came during a hearing of a petition by Shish Pal Singh, a cylinder distributor, through counsel Major Siya Ram, seeking direction to police to trace his 14- and 12-year-old sons, who have gone missing from Nihal Vihar.

The petitioner has named his former tenant as the main suspect, saying he along with his accomplices had made a call demanding Rs 1 lakh initially, and then Rs 10 lakh later after the children went missing and also claimed that his sons were safe.