As 10,796 remain untraced, Karnataka High Court directs police to effectively implement SOP for handling complaints of missing persons

Taking note that 10,796 persons, who went missing between 2020-2025, are yet to be traced, the High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government to give a report on effective implementation of a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP), evolved based on court’s directions, for registration, enquiry and investigation of complaints of missing persons.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued the directions while disposing of a petition filed by a 65-year-old man complaining the 2024 action of the police in classifying as ‘dormant’ the First Information Report (FIR) registered in 2020 based on his complaint about his missing cousin.

During the hearing of the petition, the court had sought data of complaints of missing persons, including children up to the age of 17 from 2020-2025. Besides submitting the data of missing persons, the Police Department also submitted a SOP, which was evolved compiling several circulars issued since 2007 on handling complaints of missing persons, following a direction issued in this regard by a Division Bench of the court in September 2025.

More girls untraced

From the data, the court noted that more number of girls in the age group of 13 to 17 went missing, particularly in 2025, and more number of these girls remained missing when compared to untraced boys in this age group.

As per the data, out of 1,26,508 persons reported missing between 2020-25, 10,796 people remain untraced.

Of the total 71,699 women reported missing, 2,981 remained untraced and of the total 38,073 missing men, 6,470 remained untraced during this period. Among the children, 16,736 (4,864 boys and 11,872 girls) reported missing and 1,345 (386 boys and 959 girls) remained untraced.

The data also reveals that adolescent girls (13 to 17 years) account for the highest number among the missing children, with 3,769 went missing during this period. Also, the data discloses that the trace rates crashed considerably in 2025 with trace rate of men.

Report to be filed

The court has now specifically asked the State government to file a report on establishment of district missing persons units, quarterly review report of supervisory committees, and digital portal for tracking of missing persons, sharing of information with the police of other States, and the number of missing persons cases currently under investigation, including the number of cases classified as active, dormant or traced.