HC concerned over authorities’ failure to find missing child

Cuttack: The Orissa high court on Tuesday reiterated its concern over the failure of authorities to locate the child who has been missing from Utkal Balashram, a state-run child care institution at Khapuria, Cuttack, since Aug 12, 2023.
However, the two-judge bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh set May 21 as a fresh deadline for the authorities to locate the missing child after the Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, Sanjeeb Panda, present in person, assured the court that he would be found soon.
Panda informed HC that a special team already has information that the missing child had visited his sister’s house in February and was working as a helper in a private bus running between Cuttack and Puri in April.
The bench also expected the director, women and child development department, Monisha Banerjee to file affidavit (as directed on May 7) disclosing the instances of children found missing from other Utkal Balashrams by May 21. TNN