Police form special teams to trace 57 missing children

As many as 273 children have gone missing in Gurgaon in the last five years prompting the police to form special police teams to trace them. The Gurgaon police had launched a missing person cell in May 2013 and have recovered 216 children from different places. But 57 children still remain untraced.

As many as 273 children have gone missing in Gurgaon in the last five years prompting the police to form special police teams to trace them. The Gurgaon police had launched a missing person cell in May 2013 and have recovered 216 children from different places. But 57 children still remain untraced.

This revelation came after a city-based activist Aseem Takyar filed an RTI application seeking information about the status of missing children in the last five years. He said, “Many such cases are not registered in Gurgaon and police do not track missing children cases despite the Supreme Court verdict in May last year making registration of such cases mandatory. Gurgaon residents are not aware that there is a missing children’s cell.”

According to the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders, anyone under the age of 18 years who goes missing will be reported kidnapped. A crime unit has been constituted in Sector 43, Gurgaon with an intention to handle missing cases of juveniles. A team of ten police officials including an inspector, who is also the incharge, has been deployed in the missing cell.

The information about the missing people is also sent to police officials in seven different states through Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET). Police use any available mobile number to track the missing person with the assistance of the cyber cell.

ACP (crime) Rajesh Kumar said, “We have taken several initiatives like distributing pictures in police stations of other states. The photos of the missing persons are also sent to all the station house officers (SHO) of the city, SCRB Madhuban, NCRB Delhi and are also uploaded on ZIPNET to solve the cases at the earliest.”