New Delhi, Feb. 11 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday called for a deeper probe into the missing children statistics by directing the Centre to analyse if the incidents are spread across any particular region, state or across the country to enable effective coordination for their restoration and crackdown on organised gangs indulging in such crimes.

"Is there a pattern emerging from the data received so far," asked a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which had directed the Centre in December 2025 to gather data on missing children from January 1, 2020 till December 31, 2025 and the status of prosecution of these cases updated as on date.

Examining the issue in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the non-profit organ...