Missing children: NCPCR holds meeting with senior police officials

Former Supreme Court Lawyer Sandhya Bajaj, one of the two members of the Commission, took a serious note of the missing child problem in the region and held a meeting with the police officials to discuss the matter.

Interacting with mediapersons here today, Bajaj said that in order to make police accountable in cases of missing children, the Commission will recommend that FIRs be registered mandatorily in cases of missing children.

“In our meeting with the police officials today, the police expressed that they cannot register an FIR in a missing case, unless the family suspects somebody. However, the said that they had registered FIRs in maximum cases,” she said.

She added that police should treat the problem on a priority basis, and must be polite with the parents of the missing children. She was reacting to the complaints of the parents, who said that they face harassment and agonising waiting hours at the police stations.

“The police, on their part, should set up separate child protection cells in every district. We have recommended setting up of Child Welfare Committees in all the districts, but no state has taken the initiative as yet,” said Bajaj.

She said that even people are not aware about the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. He said that anybody can approach the Commission, in case of any problem faced by the children across the country.

“There is need for social audit in our country, and this job can be handled by agencies like Rotary Clubs at the district levels. We have found that when we visit the juvenile homes, all the arrangements are made to look good, but otherwise the things are different there. This can be checked if proper social audit is there.”

Pawan Kumar, father of Gaurav, who has been missing since October 28 last year, said, “As per the information obtained through RTI, police did not register a single FIR in the cases of missing children.” He also alleged that the police did not behave properly when talking to persons who reported about the missing children.