The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre and all the state governments on a PIL seeking its direction to them for tracing 55,000 missing children in the country.

Agreeing to hear the public interest litigation (PIL), a bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam sought response from the Centre and States on the issue of the missing children.

The order of the apex court came on a petition filed by an advocate, Sarwa Mitra.

"The State police machinery has failed to trace the missing children resulting in total extinction of life of these children. Further there is mutilation or amputation of arms, legs or pulling out of eyes or destruction of any other organ of the body of these children which lead them to spend miserable lives and compel them to engage in begging, flesh trade etc," Mitra said in his petition.

The petitioner also submitted that, "The State police has failed to investigate the cases of kidnapping and had failed to trace the missing children which is a total denial of right to life and liberty of these innocent children.

"Almost all the states have failed to solve the kidnapping of 55,000 children by organised gangs," Mitra said in his petition, adding that "These unfortunate children are also forced into bootlegging, smuggling, prostitution etc."

The petition also said, "There is selling and buying of children for illegal acts, sexual exploitation and child trafficking."