Allahabad High Court Flags State's Lackadaisical Attitude In Tracing Missing Persons, Seeks Personal Affidavit Of Principal Home Secretary

Observing the lackadaisical attitude of State authorities in tracing out missing persons and being unsatisfied with the personal affidavit of the Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, the Allahabad High Court has order the State's Principal Secretary (Home), to file his personal affidavit detailing the action taken on a petitioner's complaint and disclose as to how many missing persons complaints have been raised on the portal after 1st January 2024 and how many persons have been traced out.Petitioner's son, aged 32 years, had gone missing in July, 2024, which resulted in the petitioner filing a missing person report on 17.07.2024. Since no action was taken by the authorities to redress the grievance of the petitioner, he approached the High Court on 27.11.2025.On the first hearing, the bench of Justice Abdul Moin and Justice Babita Rani observed that the matter was serious as the person had gone missing from the State capital. They ordered the Commissioner of Police, Lucknow to file his personal affidavit regarding the progress in the case. Noting that the FIR had been lodged after the first order was passed by the Court, it observed“it is apparent that it is only when this Court has taken cognizance of a person having gone missing from the State capital in July, 2024 vide its orders dated 01.12.2025 that the official machinery has now got into motion by lodging the FIR and by indicating the efforts which are now being made in order to trace out the missing person. As already indicated above the efforts have started about approximately one and half years of the missing complaint being lodged by the petitioner in order to trace out his son.”Upon query from the Court, the Additional Government Advocate stated that the missing persons complaints uploaded on the portal are only dealt with after order from the Court is passed.Noting the approach of the State, the Court held “This is already not expected from a welfare State whereby the citizen has to approach the highest Court of the State in order to set in motion an action which is required to be done by the authorities themselves on their own accord more particularly when the missing complaint report admittedly has been uploaded on the official website of the State authorities.”Accordingly, it directed the Principal Secretary (Home), State of UP, to file his personal affidavit indicating the status of the inquiry in case of petitioner's son and also detailing the number of reports filed and the status in those cases. The Court also asked him to explain the procedure of dealing with such complaints once they are uploaded on the portal. The case is next listed on 29th January, 2026.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Allahabad High Court Flags State's Lackadaisical Attitude In Tracing Missing Persons, Seeks Personal Affidavit Of Principal Home Secretary

Upasna Agrawal

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