Cases of missing children under 14 to be treated as kidnapping

The Home Department has issued a circular asking all police stations to treat cases of missing children under the age of 14 as cases of kidnapping.

Written by Express News Service

Mumbai | Updated: April 16, 2014 12:35 PM IST

1 min read

The Home Department has issued a circular asking all police stations to treat cases of missing children under the age of 14 as cases of kidnapping.

As per Supreme Court directives,all complaints of missing children under the age of 14 should be listed as kidnapping cases, Imtiyaz Kazi,Under Secretary,Government of Maharashtra,said in a circular.

The state governments order comes after Supreme Court took serious note of the poor record of state governments in handling cases of missing children.

Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) had filed a petition in the apex court,stating that hundreds of children were reported missing every day but the law enforcement agencies were not serious about tackling the crime.

Around 1.77 lakh children in India went missing between 2009 and 2011,of whom 55,450 are yet to be traced. Instances of missing children are the highest in Maharashtra followed by West Bengal,Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.

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Government of Maharashtra Under Secretary