The Supreme Court raised concerns on Tuesday regarding organized child trafficking cases in India, instructing the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to gather relevant data and submit a report to the court.

A Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti directed the Union Home Ministry to submit a report that includes the following details:

(i) How many child missing cases have been registered in each District/State since 2020 i.e. when the Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri-MAC) was launched?

(ii) From the registered cases, how many children have been recovered within the stipulated period of 4 months and how many are yet to be recovered?

(iii) Whether a functional Anti-Human Trafficking Units in each district is established and if so, number of cases entrusted to the respective Anti-Human Trafficking Units.

(iv) The powers conferred on the Anti-Human Trafficking Units under applicable laws.

(v) The number of pending prosecutions relating to child trafficking cases in each District/State.

(vi) Year-wise data be provided including the steps the respective States intend to take in delayed cases of investigation or non recovery of the missing child.

The Supreme Court issued these directives while overturning multiple High Court orders that had granted bail to six individuals implicated in a child trafficking racket spanning Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan. These individuals are specifically accused of kidnapping a four-year-old boy. The Supreme Court noted that the High Court had granted bail without adequately considering the relevant parameters involved in such cases.

“The punishment envisaged in the event of conviction for the charged sections is minimum 14 years which can extend upto life imprisonment. Notwithstanding the serious nature of the crime as also the likely involvement of the accused in the child trafficking racket, we notice from the impugned order(s) that the High Court without considering the relevant parameters in cases of this nature, granted bail to the accused”, the Court said in its September 24 order.

The Court also noted that the accused individuals had not appeared before it to defend their bail orders, leading to the quashing of those orders. In this matter, the same petitioner filed a plea emphasizing the plight of children who become victims of organized child trafficking networks operating across various states. 

The petitioner highlighted that young children from vulnerable families are kidnapped and sold to traffickers who operate within a network. Furthermore, the counsel for the petitioner pointed out that certain individuals are specifically tasked with identifying at-risk children and facilitating their trafficking and exploitation.

The Court acknowledged an affidavit submitted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on September 23, which detailed advisories issued to all states and Union Territories regarding three key aspects of trafficking: prevention, protection, and prosecution. The Court also noted that the Central Government has been providing special financial assistance to establish or enhance Anti-Human Trafficking Units in all districts.

Additionally, it recognized the launch of the Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri-MAC) in 2020, a national communication platform that enables real-time information sharing about child trafficking crimes. Despite these efforts, the Court observed that the outcomes of the coordinated actions taken by the Home Ministry in conjunction with states and UTs had not been presented.

Consequently, the Court requested data from the Home Ministry regarding missing child cases and the corresponding criminal actions and prosecutions initiated. It directed the Ministry to submit its report within six weeks.

Senior Advocate Aparna Bhat and advocates Rajkumari Banju Mayank Sapra, Karishma Maria and Lalima Das appeared for the appellant/ petitioner.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati and advocates Arvind Kumar Sharma, Swati Ghildiyal, Vishnu Shankar Jain, Saurabh Pandey, Mani Munjal, Garvesh Kabra, Abhishek Jaju, Pooja Kabra, Sujata Upadhyay, Avanish Deshpande, Sunny Choudhary, Sarad Kumar Singhania and Alpana Sharma appeared for the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Union of India.