Missing kids; Supreme Court takes back warning as Centre terms error 'bonafide'

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, which had warned an official that it would take contempt action against him for giving "misleading" information on number of missing kids, today forgave him after being satisfied that there was a "bonafide" error in collation of data from various states.

The social justice bench of Justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit had taken note of the fact that the Centre had given a figure on missing kids to the court, which was quite different from data given by the Minister in the Rajya Sabha.

"We make it clear that if there is a discrepancy in the figures that have been disclosed to the Rajya Sabha and the figures that have been disclosed to this Court, action will need to be taken against Naveen Yadav, Under Secretary in the Ministry and the deponent of the affidavit," it had said.

The bench, however, today accepted the submission of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh, appearing for the Ministry of Women and Child Development, that the datas were received from states and the NCRB and the error in collation of figures was "bonafide.

Meanwhile, the court, which had imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the Centre for taking an adjournment, today waived it.

During the hearing, the bench also came down on the Ministry for launching 'khoya paya' website in addition to already existing website www.trackthemissingchild.com.

"When one website is already functioning, then why this 'khoya paya'," it said.

The ASG, in reply to a question, said that the process to select members and chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was over and the issue was now pending with the Cabinet.

The bench expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that as many as five states have not set up state advisory boards as provided under the Juvenile Justice Act and asked the Centre to take up the matter with the state secretaries.

Earlier, the court had said that it would initiate contempt proceedings against the official for giving "misleading" information on the number of children missing across the country, saying that the figure given in a Minister's reply in Rajya Sabha was different.