The Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 18, 2025) has expressed concern over the reports of children going missing. The court said that he had read in the newspaper that every eight minutes a child goes missing. The court said that the process of adopting a child in the country is so complex, hence it is natural for it to be violated. He said that the process of adoption needs to be streamlined.
According to PTI report, the bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice R Mahadevan asked the Center to streamline the child adoption system. Justice Nagarathna said orally, ‘I have read in the newspaper that every eight minutes a child goes missing in the country. I don’t know whether it is true or not, but it is a serious issue.
The Supreme Court also says that the process of adoption is strict, hence it is natural for it to be violated and people adopt illegal methods to get a child. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, said that a nodal officer has to be appointed to deal with the cases of missing children, for which she sought six weeks’ time. However, the court refused to give them this time and directed to complete the process by December.
The bench had on October 14 directed the Central government to direct all states and Union Territories to appoint a nodal officer to handle cases of missing children and to make available their names and contact details for publication on the Mission Vatsalya portal run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The court had directed that whenever a complaint about a missing child is received on the portal, the information should be shared with the concerned nodal officers. Earlier, the Supreme Court had also asked the Center to create a special online portal under the aegis of the Home Ministry to trace missing children and investigate such cases.
NGO Guria Swayamsevak Sansthan had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, citing the action to be taken on the basis of information available on the Khoya/Paya portal monitored by the Government of India, apart from unresolved cases of child abduction or disappearance.
The petition presented its arguments on the basis of five cases registered in Uttar Pradesh last year, in which minor boys and girls were kidnapped and trafficked to states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan through a network of middlemen.