SC furious over conflicting figures on missing kids

The Supreme Court on Friday took exception to conflicting figures submitted by the government over missing children and warned an official of contempt proceedings against him for variation in the data.

“We are not going to tolerate this. Either Navin Yadav, Under Secretary (the Ministry of Women and Child Development), is misleading the court or the Hon'ble minister is misleading the House.”

“There cannot be any explanation. Ideas can change but the numbers cannot. Somebody is misleading. I don't think the minister is misleading. It seems Yadav is misleading this court,” the social justice bench, comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit, said.

The court’s observations came when a lawyer, representing NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan who has filed the PIL on the issue of missing children, pointed out that Minister for Women & Child Development Menaka Gandhi in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, had said that “79,721 children have gone missing during 2013-2015.”

However, the Ministry of Women and Child Development in its affidavit filed before the apex court on April 27, said that 25,834 kids went missing during 2013-2015, he said, adding that the difference is "glaring". This was acknowledged by the court. During the hearing, the bench also expressed displeasure over the government for not being able to implement the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

“This is a clear indication of a complete lack of sensitivity and the apathy that the ministry has for children and also a complete disregard for the law enacted by Parliament. We expect the ministry to wake up and take stock of the law enacted by Parliament,” the court said.Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, sought more time to respond to the queries. The court then adjourned the hearing to August 7, but asked the Centre to pay Rs 25,000 fine to the Supreme Court Legal Services.