Ludhiana (Punjab): In a shocking revelation by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 8,432 minor children, including 1,500 whose identities are yet to be confirmed, went missing from Punjab from 2013 to 2022. NCRB divulged the information in reply to an RTI query filed by activist Sabarwal of Ludhiana.
According to the NCRB report, 2,250 cases of human trafficking were registered in 2022. More than 6,000 have been identified out of which 2,878 are children and 1,000 are girls. Around 172 girls are reported missing every day in India and only 40 per cent of such cases were solved in 2022.
More than 16,000 people, including 8,570 men and 8099 women, have been reported missing in the state. In Ludhiana alone, 217 children went missing. The numbers stand at 90 in Bathinda, 22 in Ferozepur, 44 in Sri Fatehgarh Sahib, 16 in Kapurthala, 28 in Gurdaspur, 66 in Sangrur, 34 in Ropar, 145 in Patiala.
In the last three to four days, more than half a dozen people, including three children have gone missing in Ludhiana. Most of the children are in the age bracket of 12 and 17 years. On September 14, a case of a 15-year-old missing children was registered at Vishwakarma Nagar Tajpur Road.
Apart from this, cases of a 14-year-old missing girl from Durga Colony, a 17-year-old boy Anish Kumar, who went missing from Mahalla Gobind Nagar and a 15-year-old girl, Prabhadeep Kaur, who went missing from Jamalpur, Ludhiana are pending with police.
Rashmi Saini, head of Ludhiana’s Child Protection Department, said whenever children go missing, we are informed by the police. After which we find out the background of those children and then use our resources to look for them. “Our duty does not end only in finding those children, we also provide counselling and rehabilitation.
The Ludhiana district administration is launching a scheme ‘From Begging to Education’ for those children who beg on the streets. Under the scheme such children will be rescued and provided education so that they can live an honourable life.
“As it is a fundamental right of children, many departments are involved in this work. We also conduct raids at factories from time to time to rescue the children employed as child labourers violating the law of the land,” Saini said.
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