Introduction

The Supreme Court has directed mandatory FIR registration upon information about a missing person to ensure prompt action against abduction and trafficking. However, applying the same approach to adults raises concerns regarding individual autonomy.

Concerns

• Adult agency: Adults may voluntarily leave home, marry or live with a partner.
• Unnecessary intervention: Mandatory tracing may expose consenting adults to unwanted family or police scrutiny.
• Presumption of crime: Automatically treating every missing adult as a potential abduction/trafficking case may be excessive.
• Resource burden: Police resources may be diverted from cases involving genuine criminality.

Way Forward

• Maintain immediate FIRs and stronger safeguards for missing children.
• For adults, permit a limited, time-bound preliminary enquiry where circumstances do not indicate a cognisable offence.
• Use risk-based indicators such as age, vulnerability and evidence of coercion/trafficking.
• Strengthen Anti-Human Trafficking Units and inter-State coordination.

Conclusion

The objective should be to ensure swift protection against trafficking while respecting the autonomy and privacy of consenting adults.