The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a public interest litigation seeking the creation of a dedicated missing persons cell in every police station in the national capital, holding that matters relating to police organisation fall within the domain of the police authorities and not the court.
A bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia dismissed the plea filed by Anand Legal Aid Forum Trust, observing that the reliefs sought were “omnibus” in nature and unsupported by specific instances of failure on the part of the police to register FIRs in missing persons cases.
The petitioner had sought directions for registration of FIRs in all missing person cases, a CBI probe into such matters, and the constitution of a supervisory body headed by a retired High Court judge to oversee a joint task force examining the alleged rise in missing persons.
Rejecting the plea, the bench said:
“How policing is to be done should be left to the police. Where is the data on how many cases FIR was not registered? Don’t file petitions after reading a newspaper in the morning.”
The court further held that a writ of mandamus could not be issued merely because the petitioner believed a particular administrative mechanism should be adopted.
“It is not for the court to direct police how its organisation shall function. The task of constituting a specific cell in each police station in Delhi for missing persons is a job which should be entrusted to the police authorities as the same relates to its functioning.”
The court noted that the petition relied largely on media reports and did not cite concrete cases demonstrating refusal to register FIRs.
Counsel for the authorities also disputed the claim of an “alarming rise” in missing persons cases.
In a separate but related PIL filed by Jayeeta Deb Sarkar, the High Court issued notice to the Centre, the Delhi government and the Delhi Police.
The petition seeks directions to:
- furnish the status of untraced persons,
- trace and file a report on approximately 53,000 untraced persons over the past decade, and
- formulate a comprehensive protective and institutional mechanism to address disappearances.
The bench granted four weeks for responses and listed the matter for hearing in April.
Sarkar’s plea contends that the Right to be Traced and the Right to Investigation in missing persons cases are intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The petition alleges that Delhi has become a “transit hub” and “destination” for disappearances and cites data claiming that 807 persons went missing in the first 15 days of January 2026, with women and girls constituting nearly two-thirds of the cases.
According to the plea, the persistence of a large number of untraced individuals, despite claimed improvements in recovery rates, reflects systemic gaps requiring institutional safeguards.
The High Court will consider the matter after the authorities file their responses.
