A Matter Of Policy: SC While Refusing To Entertain PIL Seeking Inclusion Of Details Of Missing Persons In Upcoming Census

The Supreme Court today dismissed the Public Interest Litigation seeking the insertion of a question in the upcoming census seeking details on the missing persons from every household.

The Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice J.B. Padiwala while dismissing the petition observed that "it is a matter of policy". The Court said that "we are not denying it but the question is whether the Court should direct it to include it or not" and that "there are so many desirable things to be included in the Census but who are we to say include this or include that."

The Bench asked the Counsel appearing for the Petitioner to move to the authorities by filing a representation. The Counsel informed the Court that he has already done that. On which, the Chief Justice remarked, "That's alright, we will dismiss it."

The Bench in its order recorded that the "Relief which was sought in these proceedings seeking inclusion of missing persons in these census operations is a matter of policy. The Court is therefore not inclined to entertain the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution for issuing a mandamus. The Petition is accordingly dismissed."

The Petitioner, Social and Evangelical Association for Love commonly known as SEAL Ashram had approached the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking the inclusion of the details on the missing persons from every household in the upcoming Census and formulation of National Master Data of missing persons and NGOs, destitute homes, mental asylums and old age homes.

In the PIL filed by Advocate-on-Record Karan Sharma, the petitioner stated that the tragedy of people missing is an age-old one and is a global challenge and that there are only a few reliable and detailed statistics regarding the number of persons going missing throughout the world as a result of some general reasons such as trafficking, drug-related violence, armed conflict, human rights abuses and migration.

The Association had further contended that with the passage of each year, the number is increasing and that the task of identifying and then uniting the missing persons with their families is more of an arduous task in the Indian context due to the lack of an updated database. Relying on the NCRB data of the year 2020 also highlights the increase in the number of missing cases across states/UTs of India, the plea states that the actual number of missing persons is much higher than that mentioned in the NCRB report.

"A national data repository which shall consist of information of the missing persons is needed as it would help in cross-matching the details provided in it with the data pool that comprises of information of the families in which a member is missing" and "that the repository/database would provide information about the missing persons and help in identifying and uniting them with the families" read the Plea.

The plea also sought directions to the Police that they should obtain biological samples from unknown deceased bodies from all over India for forensic and DNA profiling as modern forensic methods such as artificial intelligence methods will help in locating and identifying missing persons with a level of certitude.

The SEAL association further submitted that one more question be added to the enumeration form, which at present carries 31 questions, the question which the petitioner is proposing to be incorporated as Q. 32 is:-“Is any member of the family missing?” and if the answer is yes then some sub-questions that ask for the name, gender, date of missing, age, whether a complaint was registered with the police or not, a photograph of the missing person, identifiable birth-marks can be told to be answered by the family members of the missing.

The Petitioner had mainly sought the following reliefs in the PIL: "necessary steps to insert a question in the upcoming census seeking details of the missing persons from every household named National Commission for Missing Persons", "necessary steps to insert a question in the upcoming census seeking details of the missing persons from every household", "to create a national master data of missing persons" and "to consider constituting a statutory body named National Commission for Missing Persons".

Cause Title: Social and Evangelical Association for Love (SEAL) v. Union of India & Anr [W.P.(C) No. 000513 - / 2023]