Lucknow, Feb 4 The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of the alarming number of missing persons in Uttar Pradesh and registered a PIL, noting that over 1.08 lakh people went missing in the past two years while police action was initiated in only about 9,700 cases.
Expressing serious concern, the court described the figures as “shocking”.
"We are aghast at the attitude of the authorities in addressing the complaints pertaining to missing persons, which obviously requires a sense of urgency," the bench said.
A division bench of Justices Abdul Moin and Babita Rani made the observations while hearing a criminal writ petition filed by Vikrama Prasad, who alleged that his son went missing in July 2024 and that police showed no interest in tracing him.
The bench sought a detailed affidavit from the additional chief secretary (home) during the hearing.
According to the affidavit, between January 1, 2024 and January 18, 2026, around 1,08,300 missing person complaints were registered in the state, but action to trace the missing persons was taken in only around 9,700 cases. No action had been initiated in the remaining cases.
Taking note of the data, the court expressed anguish over the “lethargic attitude” of the police and, considering the issue to be of wider public importance, directed the court registry to register the matter as a PIL titled “In re: Missing Persons in the State”.
The court also directed that the matter be listed for hearing on February 5.
