The Supreme Court Tuesday expressed concern over missing children as it rapped the state governments for the lack of sensitive approach in tracing them.
"You and we are worried about missing children. They come from poverty stricken families. How are chief secretaries bothered about children from poor families. They (officialdom) have got best in their lives," said a bench of Chief Justice H.L.Dattu, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice A.K.Sikri.
The stinging observation about the insensitivity of state governments and their administration in tracing the missing children mostely from poor families came in the course of the hearing of a PIL by NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan which moved the court for the tracing and restoration of these children which are suspected to be trafficked.
The court's observations came as it took up the cases of missing children in Tripura, Karnataka, Odisha and Punjab. Not only a large number of children are reported missing in these four States but a good number of them go untraced.
Senior counsel H.S.Phoolka, appearing for the NGO, said Punjab had a "very poor" record on the tracing the missing children. Equally dismal is the record of Odisha, he added.
The court asked these state governments to act on tracing the missing children as it listed the matter for hearing on Dec 11.
Meanwhile, the court Wednesday would hear the implementation of the standing operating procedures, as framed by National Legal Services Authority, by the states on the registration of cases of missing children and steps taken to trace them.