Missing Children in Chandigarh: A Study

Abstract

In every 8 minutes, one child goes missing in India which is a matter of grave concern. They are subjected to exploitation, sold into slavery, prostitution and have very little hope for their lives. Every day, around 150 children go missing in India – kidnapping and abduction are the biggest crimes in our country (National Crime Record Bureau, 2016). Among those missing children, 55% are girls and 45% of all missing children remain untraceable as yet raising fears of them having been killed or pushed into beggary or prostitution rackets. There are several factors which account for the disappearance of the children in our country. Poverty, society’s intolerance and insufficient law enforcement are the root causes and reasons behind this growing problem of missing children in India. This problem needs to be addressed seriously as it concerns the children who are young, innocent, inexperienced and helpless. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the problem of missing children in Chandigarh. The major reasons for children going missing in Chandigarh are not the kidnapping or abduction, whereas 97% of children reported missing are the cases of runaway where children discreetly leave homes due to reasons like love affairs, elopement, family fights, financial crisis at home, deprivation of parental love and care, etc. The study also reflects on the problems faced by the families of missing children and the key role played by police during the investigation of the registered cases.

Keywords: Missing Children, Runaway, Crime Against Children Need of Care and Protection

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