Bhubaneswar: Many parents in city are regularly reaching out to various police stations hoping to get back their missing children during the last couple of years. However, these helpless parents are geting noting but assurances in return.
Recently, the state police received a lot of flak from all corners for its poor track record regarding the tracing of missing children in the state during the last couple of years.
Meanwhile, regarding the tracing of missing children, the record of commissionerate police is not very encouraging even though they are equipped with all the modern facilities as compared to their counterparts in other districts. Data received through the Right to Information Act revealed that cops have failed to trace almost 35 percent of missing children of the city during the last ten years.
According to the available data, as many as 4,438 child missing cases have been registered at different police stations of the city during the last ten years. The cops managed to find out 2,889 children while it failed to get any details regarding the whereabouts of the remaining 1,548.
Khandagiri police received maximum number of missing reports between 2010 and 2021. As many as 720 missing cases have been registered at the Khandagiri police station while the cops managed to trace 510 missing children during the above period.
Khandagiri police are yet to find out 210 children who had gone missing between 2010 and 2021. Similarly, the Mancheswar police managed to rescue 372 out of the 664 missing children in the last ten years. The parents of 292 children are still running to police station with a hope to get back their wards.
The Jatni police received 601 reports of missing children. The cops succeeded in tracing out 348 children while 253 missing cases are still pending. Chandrasekharpur police that received 150 missing cases succeeded at only 80 between 2010 and 2020.
Nayapalli police have a better record in this regard as it managed to trace 189 out of 198 minors.
Speaking on the issue, DCP Umashankar Dash said that police are taking the cases with utmost seriousness. The city police are also regularly uploading all data related to the children on Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS).
Speaking to Orissa POST, noted child rights activist Benudhar Senapati said that many cases are related to elopement of minor girls who return after few years. However, the parents don’t normally report the police about the return of their children. Many of the missing children were also trafficked outside the state engaged in prostitution and forced begging. Police should become more sensitive in connection with cases related to missing of minors.
PNN