Uttar Pradesh never challenged bail for accused child traffickers, and police lost track of those who fled, India's Supreme Court found.

In a judgment of 15 April 2025 (2025 INSC 482), India's Supreme Court cancelled the bail the Allahabad High Court had granted to 13 people accused in an interstate racket that kidnapped and sold young children from Varanasi. The court said the High Court handled the bail applications 'in a very callous manner', imposed no condition that the accused report to police, so 'the police lost track' and many absconded, and that it was 'thoroughly disappointed' that the Uttar Pradesh government never challenged the bail orders and 'exhibited no seriousness worth the name.' It ordered the state to appoint three special prosecutors, protect victims' families, trace the absconders within two months, enrol the rescued children in school, finish the trials within six months, and directed every state to start implementing a 2023 anti-trafficking study's recommendations, and said any hospital from which a newborn is trafficked should have its licence suspended.