HC pulls up govt over cases of missing children

Madras High Court today came down heavily on Tamil Nadu government over the handling of cases of missing children and wanted to know why no compensation was paid in cases which were closed as 'undetected'.
After perusing the counter affidavit of the government on a habeas corpus petition filed by an NGO, a bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan said there was no mention of what concrete plans the police will take in investigating the pending cases.
Referring to the mention that seven cases of missing children had been closed as 'undetected', the bench asked the additional public prosecutor that on what basis those cases were closed and said compensation of Rs three lakh should have been paid to the aggrieved families in these cases.

As the court wanted a senior officer, preferably in the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) to appear and explain the steps taken to trace the missing children, the additional public prosecutor informed that CB-CID SP Rajeswari and SB-CID DSP Raja Sreenivasan had been appointed to probe the cases and they would appear in the court on June 20.
Earlier, lambasting the government for its handling of child missing cases and "reluctance" to allow the court to directly seek information from senior officers, the bench said: "If we lose faith in local police, we have to think of some other ways to deal with the issue. Even children who went missing in 2011 are yet to be traced."

The matter relates to the HCP filed by NGO Exnora over abduction of two children from streets in the city.

The bench after making personal enquiry with two women and another man who appeared with regard to missing of their children said: "It is really horrible for this courtto hear these women... The wounds of the people are to be addressed."
They replied in the negative when asked whether they were paid any compensation, the judges noted, adding that one of the women was a flower vendor and the other a homemaker and they had lost their earnings due to judicial proceedings.

The government affidavit, filed in response to a June 2 directive of the court, said as onApril 30, a total of 565 boys and 638 girl children missing cases were under investigation.
On the present HCP, the affidavit said CCTV footage showed the two toddlers, reported missing from a pavement here on February 29, had been kidnapped and the cases were being probed sincerely to track the culprits and children.
It also said that as per a directive of the Union Home Ministry, a special drive to trace the missing children and to rescue children in need of care and protection from public places had been undertaken.

Sincere efforts were being made by the state police to trace missing children, and such cases were not blindly closed as undetected, it said.