Kochi: Kerala High Court has directed the Director-General of Police to inform it how many children aged less than 15 years were found missing between August 2014 and August 2017 in the state. The court said it was concerned at the lackadaisical attitude of the state to the issue. The court, which asked the state whether there is any machinery to trace out the missing children, will consider the case on August 21.
A single bench issued the order on a petition filed by Thaju of Panavally, Alappuzha, seeking a directive to the state government to constitute a special investigation team to probe the case of his son, Nizamudheen, 15, who had been missing since April 2017. Though a case was registered, the police could not make any headway. The court said: "This is a case wherein a 15-year- old son of a deaf and dumb person was found missing from April 8, 2017 onwards." It asked the state to report how many children aged less than 15 years have been traced out by the police till August 2017 and how many are yet to be traced out.
