पृष्ठभूमि
The Supreme Court is reviewing whether a dedicated SOP is needed to stop child trafficking through ART and surrogacy centres. The issue arose after a probe linked alleged "egg donors" to a child‑trafficking network.
मुख्य विकास
- Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Viswanathan noted the lack of any SOP to prevent trafficking while monitoring compliance with its April 2025 judgment in the Pinki v. State of UP case.
- Amicus curiae Senior Advocate Aparna Bhat highlighted gaps in the regulatory framework of the ART Act and the Surrogacy Act.
- The Union Government, in its status reports, admitted that no SOP exists for inter‑state coordination in missing‑child cases.
- The amicus proposed a specialised committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, with an IVF expert, senior police officer and a lawyer/social worker.
- All States and UTs have set up review committees, but most lack clear functions and reporting mechanisms, unlike Gujarat.
महत्वपूर्ण तथ्य
Official data from the NCRB 2024 report shows over 6,000 trafficking cases and a 7.8% rise in missing‑children incidents, with more than 1.47 lakh children still untraced. The report warns that trafficking now includes forced marriage, organ removal, illegal adoption and other non‑traditional forms.
UPSC प्रासंगिकता
Understanding this development touches multiple GS papers: