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OFFICE MEMORANDUM
on 
Advisory on missing children-measures needed to prevent trafficking and trace the children-regarding 

by 

Anti Trafficking Cell

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS GOI


F.NO.15011/60/2011 
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA/BHARAT SARKAR 
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS/GRIH MANTRALAYA 
NORTH BLOCK NEW DELHI/CS DIVISION 
            
       New Delhi, the  31
st
 January 2012 
OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Advisory on missing children-measures needed to prevent trafficking and trace the 
children-regarding. 

1. The issue of missing and untraced children, based on police records, is a matter of 
deep concern to the Government of India. It requires a concerted and systematic 
attention of Central and State Governments. As missing children are exposed to high 
risk situations, they are vulnerable and fall prey  to crimes of exploitation, abuse, 
including human trafficking. It is, therefore, necessary that effective steps be taken for 
effective investigation of cases relating to missing children and tracing of these 
children.  This advisory is in continuation of the  advisories dated 09.09.2009, 
14.7.2010 02.12.2011 and 4.1.2012 issued by this Ministry to all the States / UTs on 
similar/related issues of crimes against children. 

2. A missing child is defined as a person below 18 years of age whose whereabouts are 
not known to the parents, legal guardians or any other person who may be legally 
entrusted with the custody of knowing the whereabouts/well being of the child 
whatever may be the circumstances/causes of disappearance.  The child will be 
considered missing and in need of care and protection, until located and/or his/her 
safety/well being is established. 

3. The legal provisions as existing in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of 
Children) Act, 2000 and other laws, several rulings of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of 
India and High Courts and the recommendations of NHRC, inter alia, emphasize the 
immediacy of prompt action by law enforcement agencies following disappearance of 
the child, especially minor girls to maximize chances of tracing/recovery.  

4. The guidelines of NHRC which has already been communicated to the States/UTs with 
respect to missing children should be implemented and their monitoring ensured 
(refer website www.nhrc.nic.in/ Reports/misc/MCR Report.doc). 

5. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has issued guidelines in respect of missing 
children on 14/11/2002 (WP (Cri) No.610 of 1996) in Horilal Vs Commissioner of 
Police, Delhi and Sampurna Behura vs. Union of India & Ors dated 12/10/11(WP (Civil) 
No.473 of 2005). These instructions should also be  complied with and monitoring 
ensured.  

6. An officer not below the rank of a DIG should be declared Nodal Officer for every 
state/UT for handling the cases of missing children. 2 

7. Supervision of investigation of such cases by senior police officers of the level of 
Dy.SP/Addl.SP may be ensured. 

8. When, any heinous crime or organized crime on missing children, such as, victims of 
rape, sexual abuse, child pornography, organ trade  etc, is reported, and then the 
investigation of such cases should be taken over by the CID of the States/UTs to 
expedite the investigation and to ensure prosecution of the offenders. 

9. State Crime branch should maintain close links with District Missing Children Unit 
(DMCU) and ensure that uploading of data and matching of missing children with 
UIDBs/Children found is carried out effectively.  

10. The Missing Persons Squad (MPS) will match the information regarding missing 
children with the data available with the MPS and if matched it should be 
communicated to the concerned police station.  A monthly report should be sent to 
DMCU. 

11. When the missing person is traced through search or rescue from places of 
exploitation, the police control room, District Missing Persons Unit (DMPU) and 
Missing Persons Squad (MPS) should be informed immediately for updating the record 
and for discontinuing the search. 

12. Whether these missing children land up in Begging Rings, Prostitution, Pedophilic Net 
and Organ Trade or end up getting exported for Camel Jockeying etc., it is always an 
Organised Crime.  Profile of all traffickers who facilitate such trafficking should be 
maintained at PS level in Gang Registers. 

13. The State CID should use data mining to analyse patterns, gather intelligence and to 
build profiles which have inter state ramifications, ascertain angles of trafficking, 
organized crime, number age/sex profile and maintain liaison with other central 
agencies dealing with the matter. 

14. All police officers and men, especially the team of officers handling investigation into 
these cases need to be trained and sensitized on an ongoing basis to the issues 
concerned.   The issues of missing children, human trafficking along with JJ Act may be 
made part of syllabus in the state police training colleges to sensitize the police force. 
The training should focus on imparting knowledge of the substantial and procedural 
laws, court rulings, administrative procedures, skills in child-friendly investigations, 
including interviewing, interrogation, scientific data collection, presentation in the 
court of law, networking with the prosecutors, facilitating victims/witness protection 
programmes etc.  

15. As there is considerable overlap in the problems of missing children and trafficked 
children, AHTUs should play an active role. 

16. The Superintendent of Police in the districts and Commissioners of Police in the 
metropolitan areas should review each case of missing children/persons during their 
monthly crime review meetings to find out the actual number of missing children, 
number of children traced/untraced, children, the reasons for child 
disappearance/missing and its links to human trafficking and to take stringent action 3 
against the perpetrators of the crime. They should  also take strong measures for 
successful prosecution of the offenders in the court of law. 

17. In cases where children and women have been smuggled illegally out of the country, 
the investigation agencies should utilize Interpol  channels to communicate with 
member countries and if need be, have appropriate Interpol Notices issued through 
CBI/Interpol wing, in order to trace the victims. 

18. An exercise to check all the unclaimed and unidentified children who are kept under 
safe custody in various shelter homes of the government/non-governmental agencies 
may be undertaken and details may be matched with the available missing children 
data base in the country as most of the children lodged in these shelter homes are 
indeed missing children. Missing Persons Bureau in the state should have a centralized 
data on children lodged in these shelter homes run  by the government/nongovernmental agencies in the state with mechanism to update the data on regular 
basis. This data along with the photographs of the  children should be digitized and 
regularly sent to NCRB and NCRB will upload this data in their website www.ncrb.gov.in for 
pan-India search by other state police/stake holders. 

19. A number of children reportedly die after disappearance/missing and their dead 
bodies remain unidentified. States/UTs should also consider making it mandatory for 
the investigating officers and provide the necessary infrastructure to have the DNA 
profiling of all such unidentified dead bodies for future comparison and identification.
DNA profile of the nearest blood relative through informed consent should be done if 
child is not found for 3 months. Both the DNA data  base may be maintained at the 
state MPS for future comparison and matching. 

20. Similarly, in order to curtail offences of child sex abuse, in all cases of pornography, 
cyber crimes etc. under investigation, efforts should be made to correlate the pictures 
of the child with the details of missing children and vice-versa. 

21. The data available in each missing children file should be uploaded to the computer 
maintained at the police station for this purpose. It will be the responsibility of each 
I.O. to ensure that efforts made towards tracing the missing children is also uploaded 
on the computer, which would be linked to national  database and via CCTNS, 
eventually.  CCTNS should update it promptly on the proposed ‘Khoya Bachpan’ 
website. 

22. The SHO/Inspector of the police station will ensure that the computerized record of 
missing children is maintained up-to-date and the same is sent to DCRB and from 
there to SCRB. The State and District/City police Control Room/local Police net, ZIP 
NET, www.trackthemissingchild.gov.in should be updated immediately. It would be useful to 
access data on missing children through other websites maintained by 
www.childlineindia.org.in and www.stoptrafficking.in to mention a few. 

23. NCRB is mandated to function as a national repository of crime and criminal related 
data in the country and the States /UTs should evolve a mechanism to share the data 
on missing children and human trafficking cases to NCRB in the prescribed proforma of 
NCRB on monthly basis for analysis and study to find the emerging trends in these 
sensitive issues. 4 

24. NCRB should device methods of uploading the data on a real-time basis not only of 
missing persons but also with respect to traced and un-traced persons as well as 
linking the database with those of rescued persons  from different places including 
children rescued from exploitative or forced labour. 

25. The universal number 1098 for reporting of missing children 24x7 is being run in some 
States / UTs, but there is no uniformity. It needs to be made effective and operational 
if not done earlier. There should be at least one dedicated police personnel at this 
helpline on 24x7 basis with proper monitoring mechanism. In the meantime BPR&D 
would explore further possibilities of integrating 1098 with 100 to make it toll free. 
26. Responsible and competent NGOs be earmarked as Nodal NGOs in States for assisting 
the law enforcement agencies in this regard.  The NGOs who have done work in this 
field with commitment be supported by the law enforcement agencies and synergy be 
established so that they could work in tandem.  

27. When training the police, they must be oriented to  undertake all preventive steps 
including steps to identify children in distress, watch of suspicious persons, special 
attention at transit points viz. border areas, ICPs, railway stations, bus stations, 
airports, ports etc.,  identify vulnerable population/places and take steps to address 
the vulnerability on time.  

28. BSF/ITBP/SSB personnel in outposts on borders should be trained to look-out for 
trafficked children on the borders.  They should be sensitized to question and detect 
unaccompanied minors/children or accompanying adults with suspicious behaviour 
during pursuant checking of vehicles/public transport. 

29. The law enforcement agencies may involve representatives of Panchayati Raj 
Institutions and the community at large, such as, Village Watch & ward/ Municipal 
Committees/Neighbourhood Committees/Resident Welfare Associations etc..  This 
will enable the community to get fully involved along with the administration/police in 
identification, tracing & recovery of missing and trafficked children and arrest of 
accused persons.  

30. Community awareness programmes on the issue of missing children and its links with 
human trafficking may be undertaken by the District administration.  Periodic 
interface with Public and Safety Awareness Campaign should be conducted in schools 
and vulnerable areas, jointly by the district administration.  Schools must be 
encouraged to issue Identity cards to children. 

31. The activities of various departments and agencies  in the States /UTs need to be 
integrated through a nodal agency. These includes Home Department, Police 
Department, Social Welfare Department, Women and Child Welfare Department, 
Juvenile Justice Department, Child Welfare Committees, Labour Department, Health 
Department, Tourism Department as well as other agencies like State Human Rights 
Commission, State Women’s Commission, State Commission for Child Rights, Railways, 
RPF, BSF, SSB, ITBP etc. State governments may institutionalize a coordinating 
mechanism among all these agencies through an SOP clearly mandating the roles and 
responsibilities of each of these agencies.  5 

32. In places, where vulnerable groups of children are  found in large numbers, a 
mechanism should be evolved in partnership with NGOs and social workers, where by 
apart from rendering counseling to them, awareness-raising activities are also carried 
out.  

33. The protocols and SOPs developed by UNODC in the Joint Project of MHA-UNODC, 
during 2006-2008, including protocol on interstate transfer of rescued victims may be 
effectively utilized (refer www. unodc.org/india). 

34. The States/UTs may bring out an SOP for guidance of all concerned. 
The receipt of this letter may kindly be acknowledged immediately. 


             Sd/- 
(B. Bhamathi) 
Additional Secretary to Govt. of India, 
Ministry of Home Affairs, 
North Block, 
New Delhi – 110001 
Tel. No. 23092514 


To, 
The Chief Secretaries & 
The Principal Secretary/Secretary (Home) 
All State Governments and Union Territories 
Copy also for information and necessary action to: 
i. The DGs of all State Governments/UTs. 
ii. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights 
iii. Director General BPR&D 
iv. Director NCRB 
v. Director CBI 
vi. Director General BSF 
vii. Director General ITBP 
viii. Director General SSB 
ix. Ministry of Women and Child Development 
x. Ministry of Labour 
xi. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment 
Sd/- 
(B. Bhamathi) 
Additional Secretary to Govt. of India, 
Ministry of Home Affairs, 
North Block, 
New Delhi – 110001 
Tel. No. 23092514 


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