As the world celebrated the International Missing Children’s Day on Thursday, the city’s figures for this year do not portray a comforting picture. With barely five months gone, the city has already seen 33 children go missing with 28 of them (85%) teenaged girls.
The trend then is that the city may see a record of missing children this year with last year recording just 48 going amiss of which 27 were girls. Sample this, a 17-year-old Manimajra girl went missing on way to school on March 3 and remains untraceable.
Over the past five years, 203 children up to age of 18 years had reported to be missing/kidnapped in last five years. Of these, around 143 are girls.
“Often, children, especially girls, leave the house on their own. It could be either owing to conflict with the parents or even love affair,” said police sources.
{{/usCountry}}“Often, children, especially girls, leave the house on their own. It could be either owing to conflict with the parents or even love affair,” said police sources.
{{/usCountry}}Sources add that most of the girls are from middle class families. In such cases, the police usually register a case under Section 363 (kidnapping) and 366-A (procreation of minor girl) of the IPC.