Delhi High Court asks Centre to respond to plea on ‘surge’ in missing person cases

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, asked the Centre, Delhi Government and police to respond to the petition on the “surge” in the number of missing persons in the city.

Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia placed the matter for hearing on February 18.

A petition filed by an NGO says there is an “unprecedented crisis” in Delhi and more than 800 people have gone missing in the first 15 days of this year.

“The petitioner highlights that the alarming rate of 800 disappearances in two weeks points to a thriving ecosystem for organized crime, human trafficking and other serious organized criminal activity, all of which thrive in the shadow of the respondent’s failure to implement a time-bound, technologically driven investigative protocol,” it adds.

The indictment states that the critical “golden hour” following a disappearance was routinely ignored, and complaints were met with procedural hesitation, leading to delays in the registration of FIRs.

The petitioner sought directions from the authorities to ensure strict implementation of their protocols in every case of missing persons.

It also sought directions from the Delhi Government and Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golccha to constitute a high-level coordination committee for periodic cross-verification of missing person records with data on unidentified patients in government hospitals and unidentified bodies in mortuaries.

On February 9, the National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the Delhi government, Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma and the police chief seeking a detailed report within two weeks on missing person complaints registered in the national capital this year. Citing media reports, the commission said 807 such complaints were lodged in the first two weeks of January, of which only 235 were resolved. The Court observed that the reports, if true, raise serious issues of human rights violations. According to Delhi Police data, 191 of the 807 missing people are minors. Citing media reports, the commission said 24,508 people were reported missing in Delhi in 2025, 60% of whom were women.