The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre and State governments on a PIL seeking a uniform nationwide mechanism for investigating cases of kidnapping and abduction of children, including time-bound probes and speedy trials.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice to the Union government and other concerned authorities on the petition.
Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, appearing in the matter, submitted that human trafficking had assumed several forms of exploitation and that incidents involving children had been increasing over the years.
Concerns over child trafficking
Referring to the Supreme Court’s 2025 judgment in Pinky v State of Uttar Pradesh, Upadhyay said children were being trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced labour, begging, petty crimes, armed conflict, child marriage and child labour. He also alleged that children were being abducted for forced conversion.
Upadhyay further claimed that trafficking for forced labour was increasing at an alarming rate and that safeguards under the juvenile justice system were being misused to facilitate heinous crimes.
He urged the Court to issue notice on the plea and sought that it be tagged with an existing case concerning the Supreme Court’s monitoring of FIR registration in cases involving missing persons.
Missing persons cases cited
Referring to the earlier practice of filing a “Ghumshuda” report for missing persons, Upadhyay said the Court had subsequently directed that an FIR be registered in such cases. He noted that the matter remained pending and that the Court was monitoring compliance by various states.
Justice V Mohana, however, observed that several government schemes and initiatives were already in place to address such issues. The Bench ultimately directed that notice be issued to the Centre.
