RTI reveals over 6,000 missing children in three years
14 May, 2013An application was filed with the Missing Persons Bureau of Mumbai Police Crime Branch under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get information about the cases of missing children from the city.
According to the reply provided by the Mumbai Police, a total number of 6,345 cases of missing children (aged up to 14) were recorded by the police from 2010 and 2012. This implies that on an average, almost six children went missing from Mumbai every day in last three years. The reply also stated that though most of the cases were solved eventually, almost ten per cent of total cases remain unsolved as yet. This means that a large number of cases i.e. over 600 still remain unsolved. Further, in 1% of cases, the children were found dead.
The reply also suggests that the instances of missing children are increasing. The data in the reply shows that 1,106 boys and 782 girls went missing in 2011 while their number increased by 30% and 34% respectively in 2012. It is feared that many cases of disappeared children might be related to kidnapping for sex trafficking and child labour.