Supreme Court To Consider Petition Seeking Guidelines On Centralised Alert For Missing Women

The Supreme Court today (September 13) agreed to consider a petition seeking guidelines to mandate a centralized alert in case a woman is reported to be missing and cannot be located within a reasonable time-frame.

Notably, the Top Court had laid down guidelines in the decision of Hori Lal v Commissioner 2002 of steps to be taken in cases of kidnapping of minor girls

Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan appearing for the petitioner stressed that even though the guidelines have been framed previously, very often there are lapses and delays on part of the families of the missing girl/ woman in reporting the incident leading to travesty of justice. She referred to present case where the mother of the minor, who was working as nurse in a hospital went missing for 8 days and her dead body was discovered subsequently. 

"For instance there is a child of 11, mother doesn't come home, she cries herself to sleep, the next day she tells, neighbours, neighbours tell relatives - they don't even bother to elicit the correct information regarding the missing person. 8 days latter close to the house, where everybody is walking- Rudrapur is a small place , the body is found- it suddenly surfaces, they still don't lodge an FIR. These is a hue and cry and people come out on streets, then they lodges an FIR 8 days after the body is found....this is the situation across the country"  the Counsel expressed. 

The Counsel highlighted that guidelines were required specifically to lay down steps for the family members to timely inform about the missing person.

"So how do you deal with a situation where there is a missing complaint? ...what is required is how to elicit information from a traumatized family?" 

The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra agreed to issue notice in the matter. 

The main reliefs sought by the petitioner include : 

a) Issue a writ of mandamus or an order or direction in the nature of mandamus to the Respondent No. 1to issue guidelines to be followed nationwide for the protection of hospital staff regardless of their medical qualification;

b) Issue a writ of mandamus or an order or direction in the nature of mandamus to mandate a centralized alert in case a woman is reported to be missing and cannot be located within a reasonable time-frame; 

It also seeks an independent inquiry into the present sexual assault and murder of the petitioner's mother under the supervision of a retired Judge of Supreme Court and compensation to the Petitioner(s) under the Uttarakhand Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/ Survivors of Sexual Assault/ Other Crimes, 2022.

The petition has been filed with the assistance of AOR Sugandha Anand and Advocate Sarim Javed.