24 February 2009

New Delhi: The disappearance of six kids from an East Delhi locality has got the city police on its toes but the problem is much bigger than it seems. Statistics show that 8000 kids have gone missing in Delhi over the last three years.

If Nithari case sent shock waves across the nation then take a look at this.

The Delhi Police's website shows that more than 8000 kids went missing from the capital in the last three years and till date the police have been able to find only 600 of them. More than 2500 children went missing last year alone.

“These children who are kidnapped are usually trafficked, forced to beg, work in dhabas and the girls are often put into prostitution,” says Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) member, Bhuvan Vibhu.

While the accused in the Nithari serial killings face death, residents of this colony in East Delhi are living in the same fear.

The Aggarwals' daughter went missing from outside their house almost seven years ago. She was the first out of the 21 children to have gone missing from this colony since 2002, but the police haven’t been able to trace her or any of the other kids.

“We only hope we get our daughter back one day. I just hope there isn’t another Nithari somewhere in Delhi,” says Jyoti’s father Vivek Agarwal.

Police officials however play down the issue. They say there is no organised gang operating in the capital. In most of the cases they say the children had either eloped or run away from home.

The truth lies somewhere in between. Sociologists say it is not a simple case of crime.

The police need to study the specifics of the case. Until and unless every case is not seen differently the police will not be able to understand patterns and reasons for children going missing.

Experts also feel that some headway can be made only if placement agencies and adoption centres are brought under the scanner.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nithari-revisited-over-7000-kids-missing-in-delhi/86131-3.html