As many as 119 children who went missing from state-run child care centres are yet to be traced, the state government has informed the High Court of Karnataka.
A division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe directed the government to file a further status report about the action taken to trace the children.
The court was hearing a PIL petition filed by one K C Rajanna, who asked for action to trace 141 children missing from government-run child care institutions across the state.
According to the petition, there are 61 such child care centres in the state.
Citing a status report filed in the court on March 25, 2022, the government advocate said that between 2015-16 and October 2021, 352 of the 484 missing children were traced while the remaining 132 remained untraced.
Of the 132 missing children, 13 were traced until February 2022 while 119 children remain untraced. Of the 13 children who were traced, 11 were reunited with their parents while two were sent to child care centres.
Of the 119 untraced cases, 66 cases have been identified and transferred to anti-human trafficking units while the remaining 53 cases are pending with the respective police stations, the government advocate said, citing the status report.