The Delhi High Court has asked the city police to submit details of the number of children reported missing in the national Capital since 2016, The Times of India reported on Wednesday. The court said the problem of missing children was one of extreme importance and needs to be “taken up immediately”.

The court was hearing a case about the lack of public toilets in the city when the problem of missing children cropped up. The court was told that many children go missing when they try to relieve themselves in the open. “A second issue is flagged in this writ petition, which is the issue of missing children,” the bench said and de-linked the two cases.

The judges observed that many complaints say the Delhi Police wrongly registered missing children cases as those of elopement. Some also claim that officers do not put enough effort into tracing them. The bench has asked the Delhi Police to submit information on the efforts taken to trace the missing children.

“For present, let information for the year 2016-17 be furnished to this court in a tabulated manner,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar told the police commissionerate. In reply, standing counsel Naushad Ahmed Khan said the police will provide the information.