NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court of India has ordered the Union government to publish a report within a week that explains what it has done to stop child trafficking in the national capital. The Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, who were hearing the case on their own motion, were shocked by how big the problem is and how interstate gangs are operating in and around Delhi. “We would like to hear from the Union administration what they have done to stop this atrocity… The court said, “Please file this report as soon as possible.”
The bench, with help from senior counsel Aparna Bhat, also asked for documents of bail orders from lower courts for two people who were recently released in Delhi child trafficking cases. The court said it wanted to “look at these bail orders” and find out how the investigations were proceeding.
This new move by the highest court comes after its order to the police on April 21 to step up the search for a gang boss known as “Pooja” and find three babies who were sold to separate buyers. An inspector from the Dwarka special staff told the bench at the time that the parents of the missing babies might have sold their own kids. The court called the case a “big challenge” for investigators and said that the issue with child trafficking was “going from bad to worse.”
The court is still looking into child trafficking cases because of a decision made on April 15, which was made because there had been a rise in the trafficking of infants from hospitals. The Supreme Court said that all trials in these kinds of cases had to be finished within six months in that decision. It also revoked the bail of 13 people who were accused of being part of a different interstate trafficking operation and ordered hospitals that had trafficked babies to stop giving out licenses. The court made it clear that the hospital’s management is “responsible for protecting the newborn infant in all respects.”
The April 15 ruling also told all High Courts to gather and look over information about child trafficking cases that are still going on. It also told states to follow the advice of a 2023 National Human Rights Commission-backed research that said that all cases of missing children should be considered as suspected trafficking until proven differently.
In its decision, the Supreme Court also sent a stern warning to parents all around the country, telling them to be “extremely vigilant and careful with their children.” The court said that even a “slight carelessness or negligence” could cause the terrible pain of losing a kid to these trafficking groups.