Question : MISSING CHILDREN



(a) whether cases of missing children have increased in the country;

(b) if so, whether the Government has identified the reasons behind such increase;

(c) if so, the details thereof and the number of such cases registered, rackets busted, accused arrested, convicted, children traced/untraced, conviction rate achieved and the steps taken to trace all the missing children along with the action taken against the guilty, separately during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise including NCT of Delhi and Bihar;

(d) whether the Government has made it mandatory to register FIR if a case of missing child is reported and if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether the Government has received complaints regarding nonregistration of such cases, callous and irresponsible attitude of the police personnel dealing with the missing children cases;

(f) if so, the details thereof and the total number of such cases reported and the action taken against guilty personnel during the said period, State-wise; (g) whether the case of missing children and human trafficking are inter- connected in the country and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government in this regard; and (h) the details of the advisories issued by the Government to the States in this regard along with the other corrective steps taken by the Government to prevent such cases in future?

Answer given by the minister


MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI HARIBHAI PARTHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): As per information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the sex-wise year-wise data on missing children is appended below, which indicates a mixed trend.

	2010	2011	2012	2013 MALE	30954	34971	25702	25376 FEMALE	46179	55683	39336	39847 TOTAL	77133	90654	65038	65223 
There are various reasons for children going missing which include, trafficking, running away from family, kidnapping, abduction etc. While data regarding rackets busted is not maintained by NCRB, the State/UT wise cases registered, cases charge sheeted, cases convicted, persons arrested, persons chargesheeted, persons convicted and conviction rate under kidnapping & abduction of children during 2011-2013 is enclosed at Annexure.

(d) to (f): In pursuance of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order, the Ministry of Home Affairs has circulated an advisory to file mandatory FIR in case of missing children dated 25th June, 2013. ‘Police’ is a State subject, hence the whole process of filing a FIR, investigation and tracing the missing children is primarily the responsibility of the State Governments. No specific report on the indifference of police personnel and reluctance to file FIR in case of missing children is available with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

(g): All missing children are not trafficked, like runaway children etc. however, a vast number of them ends up being trafficked.

(h): The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a number of advisories regarding missing children which are available in the website of Ministry of Home Affairs.

# The Ministry of Home Affairs has circulated an advisory to file mandatory FIR in case of missing children dated 25th June, 2013.

# The Ministry of Home Affairs has Issued a detailed advisory on the missing children and steps to be taken for tracing the children on 31st January, 2012. It includes various directions to States / UTs like computerization of records, involvement of NGOs and other organizations, community awareness programmes etc.

Apart from the above, the Ministry of Women and Child Development in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs has initiated a web portal named ‘Track Child’ in the country which is aimed at maintaining real time data of all missing children containing extensive identification details to facilitate matching of missing and recovered children

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