HC directs DGP on missing children

Allahabad, Mar 29 (UNI) The Allahabad High Court today directed the Uttar Pradesh DGP to ensure serious steps to locate 719 children missing since 2006.

The court directed the DGP to submit a report about the steps taken on May 10.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Amar Saran and R N Mishra passed the order on a writ petition of V D Sharma and after perusing the counter affidavit filed by Dr Anil Mishra, DSP (legal cell), DGP headquarter, Lucknow.

In the affidavit, disaggregated district-wise gender and age details of 719 children, who were missing since 2006 have been given.

The court directed the state government to give further details about the time frame for setting up the website, regarding the missing children, as directed earlier.

''We would be happy if the state government coordinates effectively with the Central government in setting up the website and even sends some representatives to attend the meetings, which were called by the Central Ministry in this regard.'' The court also directed for obtaining compliance reports from the Centre, state government, district Judges and the HC registry.

As per a decision taken in a meeting of February 9, 2007, a core committee to monitor the implementation of the plan of action for setting up a national missing children tracking system and also to look into administrative and coordination aspect was constituted with Secretary, Ministry of Woman and Child Development, chairperson and other officers of various departments.

UNI