Indian Express
Sign In | Register Now
Newsletter | ePaper
Indian Express >  Noida killings > 

5 kids will go missing the next hour

Font Size
Ritu Sarin Posted: Feb 04, 2007 at 0133 hrs IST
Related Stories: Koli killed Nithari kids, Pandher had no knowledge: CBIThey go to work in metros, never returnProbe hints it’s no Nithari at Ratlam hospital The cook ‘confesses’ to murdering and sexually assaulting 16 Nithari children Soon, NHRC norms for the missing
The figures show a gradual upswing in the number of missing children in several states, led by Maharashtra (yearly average: 13,881), followed by Delhi (6,227) and Madhya Pradesh (4,915).

The average number of children declared “missing” annually in the country was calculated at 44,476 — 122 each day — which included an annual average of 15,407 missing children from the six metropolitan cities. Of this, an average of 11,008 children remained missing. “Where these children are is a serious question to consider,” the study said and pointed out that among metropolitan cities, only Chennai had a good track record for tracing its missing children.

“Many of these untraced children end up either being trafficked or for prostitution which is a huge law enforcement and social problem. Unfortunately, there is no synergy between what the Government agencies and NGOs do to tackle the problem,’’ says Nair. His report draws disturbing linkages between missing children and trafficking and lists several case studies to illustrate this.

Ads By Google
“Even if they (the parents) report to the police,” the report says, “the police station treats it as a case of a child going missing. By and large, the police view in such cases is that it is the child who has run away or managed to disappear and they tend to pass the blame on to the child...Since (the evidence) showed that a large number of children who are reported missing are trafficked and thereafter, are being subjected to different types of exploitation, there is an urgent need to combat the problem.”

That’s what the Supreme Court had done in the Poonam Lal case when her father and Pushpa Devi’s husband Hori Lal knocked on its doors in 1988 for help in tracing his 17-year-old daughter.

Since the police failed to trace Poonam and the Central Government did not come up with firm proposals, a set of guidelines were eventually framed by the judges themselves. These include: mandatory publishing of the picture of the missing child in newspapers, on television, in public places like railway stations and inter-state bus stops; making inquiries from a long list of people and announcing rewards for tracing the child.

But more importantly, the Supreme Court issued directives to all state Chief Secretaries and police chiefs to set up a multi-task force to trace missing children in all states.

It’s been five years since that order and now the Minister is waiting for the states to respond.

... contd.

Ads By Google
Post Comments
Message*
Maximum characters allowed     
 
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.
View all Messages [ 0 ]
View all Messages [ 0 ]
Group Websites : Express India | Financial Express | Screen India | Loksatta | Kashmir Live | Biz Publications
Privacy Policy | Feedback | Site MapThe Indian Express Group | Work With Us | Adverise With Us | Contact Us© 2009 Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. All rights reserved
*Recipient(s) name *
*Recipient(s) e-mail address *
(Separate addresses by commas)
*Your Name *
*Your e-mail address *
Select your Country
Comments(optional)

The name(s) and e-mail address(es) you provide will
not be used for any purpose other than to inform the
recipient(s) of your identity. (*mandatory field)
 
Close