Lucknow, Nov 28, : .A RTI query, data from 50 districts of Uttar Pradesh, revealed that at most five children, including three girls up to 18 years old, were missing every day in the state over the last year. The data covers the period January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.A total of 1,763 children were reported missing in Uttar Pradesh.
Over 66% (1,166%) were girls.Over 92 percent (1,070), of these girls were between 12 and 18 years of age.
Naresh Paras (a child rights activist) filed the RTI query and stated that 25 districts had not provided any details, even after two months delay.
These are the districts of Lucknow, Varanasi and Gautam Buddha Nagar as well as Gorakhpur, Gorakhpur, and Bareilly.
Paras stated that “the actual number of missing children” will be much greater if data from all districts is compiled.
According to data, Meerut district has the highest number of cases of missing children with 113, according to the data.
Ghaziabad was next with 92 missing kids, followed by Sitapur (90), Mainpuri (86) and Kanpur (80).23 children, 11 of them girls, disappeared from Agra district during the time period related to the query.
RTI queries also revealed that 1,461 of the 1,763 missing children were tracked down and recovered by police.However, 302 children, including 200 girls, still remain missing.
Paras stated, “The fact five children go missing each day in UP on average, most of them girls” On a monthly basis, missing child cases should be reviewed by complainants and investigators at every police headquarters in each district.
According to the Supreme Court’s directive police must register an FIR under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), within 24 hours of receiving a complaint about a missing child.
If the missing child is not located within four months, the case must be referred to each district’s anti-human trafficking unit.
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