ABP Live Exclusive: During 2015, 2170 children went missing in Delhi; girls outnumbered boys

New Delhi: In a developing country like India, the problem of rising number of untraced children in national capital Delhi is escalating day by day. According to an RTI filed by CRY (Child Rights and You) NGO, in the year 2015, 2170 children got missing from Delhi. Interestingly, out of these 2170, the number of females is more than the number of males who got missing. (1335 females & 835 males) What’s even more shocking is that the number of those who are between 12 and 18 year age group, are missing more compared to those who fall between 0-8 and 8-12. Shockingly, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh which also comes under Delhi NCR, the number of missing children is much less (20) for the same period, reveals another RTI. In Noida, in 2015, 64 children went missing. However, according to the RTI, cops managed to trace 44. From Noida Phase 2, maximum numbers of children reported missing. ABP Live tried to find out the reason why there is a huge gap between the two cities when it comes to missing children when the fact is that Noida also comes under Delhi NCR (National Capital Region). Talking to ABP Live’s Anurag Kumar, Soha Moitra (Regional Director -North), CRY, said-“There are two main reasons for this. First, in Delhi mostly both presents are working and secondly Delhi is having a bigger slum area.” Image: Soha Moitra (Regional Director -North), CRY/ ABP Live However, in Noida too the number of females who got missing is more than the number of male children. (23 boys and 41 girls) “The key two reasons why girls, especially in the age group 12-18, are missing more is-commercial sex and domestic work”, said Ms Moitra. Talking about the solution she said, “In order to trace the missing child on time we need huge amount of coordination between different departments of the government. Also, the police need to act very fast, faster than the child trafficker.” According to a recent report, as many as 84 out of every 100 missing kids have remained untraced during the last three years, according to home ministry data, while the total number of untraced children in 2015 was 62,988 as against 34,244 in 2013. The missing children are often led to be a part of organized crime, illegal child labour, trafficking and organ trade.