What have you done on missing kids: HC to govt

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the principal secretary for home and the director-general of police to submit a comprehensive report on the people missing from the state. The court has sought details on the number of missing person cases registered in Telangana in the past four years, cases that are pending, people who have been traced and the steps being taken to rehabilitate those who have been found.

The directive by a division bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy came on public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Rapolu Bhaskar. The petitioner had sought a direction to the police to re-open shut files of missing persons and conduct investigation afresh to trace them.

The bench sought to know if the government has a policy for rehabilitating child labours or identify such kids. The Chief Justice said that trafficked boys are used as child labours, while girls are being forced into prostitution. Over 50 per cent of 5,000 missing cases involved girls.

The HC asked state authorities to ensure that the children of the state do not fall into the hands of traffickers. It asked the government to submit a detailed counter by February 6. The matter will be heard next on February 10.

Senior counsel L Ravichander brought to the notice of the court that an NGO, Prajwala, had filed a PIL on the trafficking of girls and women from the state for prostitution and that the petition is still pending. The bench directed the Registry to club the NGO's PIL with the present one for the next hearing.