CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has warned it shall consider passing appropriate orders on the next date if the child who went missing from Utkal Balashram at Khapuria in Cuttack nine months back, is not traced by May 14.
The word of caution came on Tuesday while suo motu registering a petition entitled - RE: Missing of Child from Utkal Balashram, Cuttack - a state-run child care institution and directing all the concerned authorities to take all possible measures to ensure that the child is located. The case was instituted on the basis of a report submitted by the Orissa High Court’s Juvenile Justice Committee.
The division bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, “The fact remains that after nearly nine months, the missing child has not been traced. We have been informed that a special team has been constituted recently on 03.05.2024 to locate the child. We express our serious concern over the insensitive approach of the authorities in addressing the issue of a child missing from the Utkal Balashram, Cuttack.” The bench fixed May 14 as the next date for further adjudication on the matter.
It added, “The court expects that the director, Women and Child Development department Monisha Banerjee shall take appropriate steps, based on the findings recorded in the report made by the secretary, Juvenile Justice Committee. Let an affidavit be filed on behalf of the opposite parties disclosing the instances of children found missing from other Utkal Balashrams in the state of Odisha.”
The order said the director of State Women and Child Development department informed the court that the department has taken up the issue with all seriousness and the department is also looking into similar instances in other childcare institutions in the state of Odisha. Advocate general Ashok Kumar Parija informed the court that an FIR was registered about the missing of child on the very same day, ie on August 12, 2023, disclosing commission of an offence punishable under section 363 of IPC, the order said.