Efforts need to be made to find out information that may lead to some organised gangs.'

The court had taken note of the increasing number of missing children and ordered an inquiry by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR).

The report by DCPCR said: 'As soon as the police come to know about missing children, they should inform the Missing (Persons') Squad, which will then inform the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and within three-four hours they should start the initial investigation. But the police have failed to adopt this procedure.'

The report by the statutory body states that Section 63 of the Juvenile Justice Act makes it mandatory for the police to report the case to the special juvenile police, who in turn have to inform the DCPCR, which also has a missing children cell to look into such cases.

According to the affidavit filed by Delhi Police, 2,210 kids went missing from the capital from June 2008 till January this year and on an average 17 children go missing every day.