Out of the total missing minors in the country, 74.26 percent are girls, while the rest are boys and transgender children.
Published Sep 07, 2022 | 2:32 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 08, 2022 | 2:18 PM
Tamil Nadu is ranked 4th in India after Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar. (Creative Commons)
For the second consecutive year, Tamil Nadu is the leading state in South India when it comes to missing children below the age of 18 years, followed by Telangana, reveals the 2021 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.
While the southernmost Indian state — ranked fourth nationwide — recorded 6,399 missing children in 2021, a total of 1,769 juveniles remained untraced from previous years, taking the total figure to 8,168.
Telangana reported 3,956 children missing in 2021; with 777 untraced from the previous years, the total was 4,733.
Meanwhile, the NCRB report said that Madhya Pradesh topped the national figures with a total of 16,221 children disappeared, ahead of West Bengal (16,130 children), and Bihar (11,869 children).
The report revealed that a shocking 1,21,351 children went missing across India till 2021, with 77,535 missing that year and the remaining being the untraced juveniles from previous years. Nearly one-fifth of them are from the southern states of India.
Meanwhile, the NCRB report stated that the missing number of girls were were nearly three times that of missing boys — 90,113 and 31,224, respectively. The number of untraced transgender minors was 14 across the 28 states and eight Union territories (UTs).
Indian law states that an FIR for a missing child should be filed under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
According to the report, Tamil Nadu saw a 24.8 percent increase in missing children last year as compared to 2020, when the number was 6,142.
Whereas Telangana accounted for a 20.66 percent increase in figures for missing children in 2021, the rate in its neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh was 24.38 percent.
With a total of 4,356 missing children in Andhra Pradesh in 2021 — 3,720 in the same year and 636 untraced from previous years — it stood at third position among South Indian states.
Next on the list was Karnataka with 2,157 missing children reported in 2021. With a total of 1,638 missing children in 2020, it witnessed a jump in the rate by 24.06 percent.
"Whatever data is available falls short of reality because countless children go missing each year. Poor people even fear reporting this to the police fearing abuse," said Tamil Nadu-based child rights activist Gur Aryeh Emi.
"People in rural areas live with a lack of legal awareness. Urban areas are hubs of deteriorating child rights and cater to the exploitation of a child," Emi, who also founded the NGO Child Rights Defence, told South First.
Kerala had the least missing juveniles in South India at 1,756 in 2021. Of these, 1,609 children went missing in 2021 while 147 were untraced from the previous years.
While mentioning that missing children often turn out to have been kidnapped, trafficked into prostitution, or put in bonded or domestic labour, Emi explained: "Many children are trafficked internationally from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other places to India, and vice-versa. Even if a child runs away from home due to peer pressure or any other reason, they end up falling into the hands of child traffickers."
He added: "There should be a proper survey by the government to locate the displaced children."
Emi opined that the Indian legal system needed to strengthen the current laws.
"The laws, at present, are not up to the mark and are insufficient. Traffickers find legal loopholes easily and escape harsh sentences. The implementation of laws is as pathetic as their drafting, so their enforcement needs to sharpen," he said.
While a total of 90,113 juvenile girls went missing till 2021, 59,544 disappeared in 2021 and the remaining 30,569 remained untraced from previous years, said the NCRB report.
This is a 12.07 percent hike over 2020, when 79,233 minor girls were reported missing. Among the 1,08,234 missing children that year, 28,976 were minor boys.
While Madhya Pradesh led among the 28 states and eight UTs for the missing juvenile girls, it was again Tamil Nadu that topped among South Indian states.
It was followed by Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala, respectively.
"Our patriarchal society believes in the objectification of vulnerable women. Boys consume what is taught to them. As girls' actions are more restricted in society, they land in the hands of traffickers and fall prey to them when they try to break the barriers and move out. These vulnerabilities are exploited and they are sold for sex work, domestic labour and other such works," he explained.
While emphasising the important role of the police and other constitutional bodies in tracing a missing child, Emi said the law must contain specific legal sections for them, and that action must be taken against them if they are at fault during the execution of laws in a case.
"Cops and other stakeholders often fail to gather or overlook evidence and thus cases fall apart easily. Secondly, the police need to be sensitised properly for child protection," he added.
"There should be separate police stations for only juvenile cases with full independence, transparency, and no other day-to-day workload," he proposed.
