Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 19
The Supreme Court has flagged Nagaland and several other States and Union Territories for failing to furnish information on missing children to the Union Government for the purpose of compiling national data, despite earlier directions.
During the hearing of a petition before a the apex court bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan on August 13, the Additional Solicitor General informed that several States, including Nagaland, had not submitted the requisite data to the Union of India.
The other States listed were Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and West Bengal, along with the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry.
Taking note of the lapse, the Bench directed the Union of India to issue “strong reminders” to these States and UTs. It observed that compiling such information into a single chart is essential before the next hearing, which is scheduled for September 9.
As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2022, the ‘latest’ data available so far, Nagaland recorded 45 cases of missing children (below 18 years). Of these, 39 were traced or recovered during the year, while 6 remained untraced.
The publication of data for NCRB 2023 has been considerably delayed with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs informing the Parliament on August 5 that “Data validation for the 2023 reports is in final stage.”
