NHRC notice to Gujarat Chief Secretary, DGP on missing children

New Delhi, Feb 27 (UNI) The National Human Rights Commission has issued notice to the Gujarat Government and sought a factual report on the reported disappearance of 1,054 children between 2001 and 2005 in the state.

The Commission has asked the State Chief Secretary and the DGP to submit the report within four weeks.

Taking note of a newspaper report on the incident, NHRC said the human rights of the children were being violated.

According to the February 5 report, the missing children were in the age group of 6 months to 18 years.

It is said police itself discouraged parents from filing missing complaint.

The news report highlighted absence of a system or mechanism in the state by which the missing complaints filed at one police station could be relayed to another station, even in the same city.

''The Missing Persons Cell in various cities is inadequately staffed and tracing missing people is very low on its priority,'' it added.

The police manual itself does not give much importance to dealing with cases of missing people or unidentified bodies, it said.

UNI