Supreme Court terms infant trafficking 'most dangerous,' says situation getting worse

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadeva, while hearing a case, directed the Delhi police to take all necessary steps to find out the kidnapped newborn babies.

It said, "The situation seems to have gone from bad to worse."

The bench asked the inspector, who was entrusted with the probe in a case over trafficking of several newborns in the Dwarka area and was present in the courtroom, about what steps had been taken to investigate the issue of gangs involved in abducting and selling newborns within and outside Delhi.

The apex court gave four weeks to the police and asked it to find out the gang leader involved in child trafficking and the infants who were kidnapped and inform the court about the progress.

"They (child trafficking gangs) are a big threat to society. Sale purchase (of kids) is absolutely no. You don't know where they end up. If it's a girl child, you know where she will end up. It's a very serious situation," said Justice Pardiwala.

The apex court earlier took the issue of child trafficking suo motu following a news report pointing to the sale of newborn babies for lakhs.

During the hearing, the bench asked the inspector what steps the police had taken so far to arrest the gang leader and to find the three missing kids.

The inspector said all steps are being taken to apprehend the gang leader and find the missing infants. He said seven persons have been arrested and informed that parents are also in the trafficking of infants.

"Unfortunately, the parents of the infants seem to have sold off their own children," the apex court said.

"Teen bacche ko kanhi se bhi dhundh ke le aaiye (find the three missing kids). We are giving you some time. Within that time, you find the kids," Justice Pardiwala told the inspector.

Asking police to catch the kingpin of the child trafficking racket operating in the national capital, the bench said, "If he is the gang leader. His interrogation will give you more information about his networks. You need to find out the newborns. Persons who sold kids and who purchased them all are accused."

The bench told the inspector that it's a huge challenge to him and his team to find the infants and the gang leader but asked him to do it at any cost.

While referring to Delhi gangs buying and selling newborns, the bench said, "Most dangerous, this is most dangerous."

While granting four weeks to the inspector and asking him to apprise the steps taken in the meantime, the bench said, "We will keep monitoring (the issue). We will take it the last."

The apex court took cognisance of the media report that where police had busted a gang involved in abducting and selling newborn babies in Delhi.

The news report stated that the gang operated across state borders, mainly targeting remote villages and hospitals in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The newborns, some barely a few days old, were taken and kept in slum areas around Delhi before being sold to childless couples for anything between Rs 5 and Rs 10 lakh, it had said.

On April 15, the apex court delivered a judgement and said that if any newborn infant is trafficked from any hospital, the immediate action against the hospital should be suspension of the license to run the hospital.

It had also issued a set of guidelines for all the states to prevent child trafficking and offences arising out of it.

With an aim to curb the trafficking of newborns, it had issued a slew of guidelines saying that any laxity in implementing the directions would be taken seriously and be treated as contempt of court.

It had expressed serious concern over the bail granted to a group of accused in child trafficking cases by the Allahabad High Court and cancelled their bail.