Police sleep over High Court order to form special squad to handle kids theft cases

Three months have passed since the High Court directed the state government to form a special ‘missing children squad’ with officers trained in handling such cases. While passing orders on a public interest litigation filed by NGO Exnora, highlighting child theft, especially those who lived on platforms, the division bench of the High Court, comprising Justice S Nagamuthu and Justice V Bharathidasan had observed that it did not want to transfer the investigation of these cases to any other unit as they were already overburdened and noted that only a special unit could do justice in investigation of these cases. 

However, no squad has been formed in Tamil Nadu as yet and the investigation in to the several child abduction cases continue to drag without any breakthrough. Police highlight the manpower shortage as the main reason for not forming a special child missing squad. “There is no point in forming a squad on the paper and deputing some officials to the wing. What we need is a dedicated squad with well-trained officials to handle these cases. No move in this direction is happening now,” a senior state police official said. 

Officials also highlight the failure of similar systems due to absolute lack of responsibility from the side of the police. “Earlier there was an order from the National Human Rights Commission to have missing children desk at each police station. But they all soon became dysfunctional as policemen were diverted for more ‘pressing’ duties,” another official told DTNext. When contacted a senior police official attached to the city police said he needed to look in to the matter before commenting on the issue.