HC seeks Centre's stand on portal for info on all missing kids

The Delhi High Court today sought to know the Centre's stand on a proposal to build a common web portal for missing children so that the information could be expeditiously shared among all the agencies across India.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to file its status report on the issue of cultivating a centralised system which would have all the details of any child who has gone missing, after registration of an FIR in this regard.
During the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel Naushad Ahmad Khan said the process of sharing information about missing children is time consuming and proposed that there was a need for a common web portal through which the details would be shared by the agencies in all states.

He said if a missing child is traced, the authorities should upload his finger prints in the centralised system so that the family could trace him with the help of biometrics used in Aadhaar.
The court observed that the petition "flags an important issue of missing children" and listed the matter for April 10.
It also asked the AAP government counsel to file a latest report on the status of missing children in Delhi.

The court was hearing a plea on lack of public toilets in the city when the problem of missing children cropped up. The court was told that many children go missing when they try to relieve themselves in the open.

It was also alleged that the complaints regarding missing children were wrongly registered as cases of elopement by the Delhi Police and that insufficient efforts were made to trace them.
The court has segregated the issue of missing children from the issue of provision of public toilets.