The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Centre and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on a PIL seeking the establishment of a national DNA and biometric identification system for missing and rescued children.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and NCPCR on a petition filed by Reepak Kansal through Advocate-on-Record Pravir Choudhary.
The plea seeks directions to the Centre, States and Union Territories to establish a centralised, scientifically backed system for identifying, tracing and reunifying missing and rescued children with their families, subject to statutory safeguards.
It seeks mandatory DNA sampling, with appropriate consent and privacy safeguards, of unidentified rescued children and willing biological parents or guardians of missing children to facilitate identity confirmation and family reunification.
The petitioner has also sought integration of existing child-protection databases, including police records, shelter homes, Child Welfare Committees and Anti-Human Trafficking Units, into a centralised real-time national framework.
The plea calls for national and State-level child protection and anti-trafficking task forces to ensure interstate coordination and time-bound investigation, rescue and rehabilitation of missing or trafficked children.
It further seeks Standard Operating Procedures covering DNA testing, tracing, reunification, rehabilitation, compensation and long-term monitoring of rescued children.
Another key prayer is for mandatory DNA verification of children proposed for adoption against national records before completion of the adoption process, subject to privacy and other safeguards. According to the petitioner, such a mechanism could help prevent illegal adoption, trafficking and misrepresentation of children’s identities.
The plea also seeks periodic compliance affidavits from authorities detailing the number of missing children, DNA samples collected, matches established, reunifications achieved, prosecutions launched and rehabilitation measures undertaken.
The Court has sought responses from the Centre and NCPCR before proceeding further with the matter.
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