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NCRB data: Ludhiana police rank 24th in country in recovering missing persons
As per NCRB data, the Ludhiana police were able to trace only 130 of 292 abductees in 2020, which included 122 women and girls
With a 44.5% success rate in recovering abducted persons, the Ludhiana police ranked 24th among the law enforcement teams of 34 major cities in 2020, as per National Crime Record Bureau data.
In 2020, the Ludhiana police were able to trace only 130 of 292 abductees, which included 122 women and girls. The cities that topped the charts with a 100% recovery rate were Jodhpur of Rajasthan; Kannur, Kollam, Malappuram, and Thrissur of Kerala; Tiruchirapalli of Tamil Nadu; Vadodara of Gujarat and Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh. Allahabad of Uttar Pradesh ranked 34th, with a recovery rate of just 17.4%.
Mobile app ‘Gumshuda’ launched
To improve its recovery rate the Ludhiana police have initiated a slew of measures, including ‘operation reunion’, a special human trafficking wing, and a mobile application ‘Gumshuda’, which contains photographs and other data pertaining to 3,000 people who have gone missing in the last 10 years.
A separate control room has also been established that will receive, verify and release information about people who have been abducted and traced.
As per NCRB data, 135 persons were abducted in 2020, of which 128 (94.81%) were women and minor girls. However, 157 people , including 139 women and girls, who went missing before 2020 were also added to the inventory of missing persons, taking the total count of missing persons to 292.
The police only managed to recover 122 women and girls and eight men by December 31, 2020, while 162 people are yet to be traced.
‘Most minor girls abducted on pretext of marriage’
Cops said missing person cases are filed under Section 346 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code, and that most cases that were reported in the city pertained to minor girls who were abducted on the pretext of marriage.
“With Ludhiana being the industrial hub of the state, it has a significant population of migrant labourers. Most abduction cases are reported by them,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity.
