April 5, 2010, New Delhi: If a child goes missing in your colony, the probability of him/her being sold to a brothel , factory owner or used for all illicit crime is more then you have expected.

Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) is one of the first social organizations to have taken up the issue of Nithari’s missing children as a case of exploitation and abuse of child rights. It found out that the major reason of the crime was that nobody reported about it on time. After four years of Nithari, BBA is finding same trend of missing children in other areas of Delhi and other places, and has therefore launched an awareness campaign on ‘Missing Children’.

BBA has conducted an extensive study on the missing children and have gathered complaints of more than 300 children missing from 5 districts of Delhi. The facts are shocking:
·         5-6 age of children have been made the target
·         Children are maximum being abducted from North East Delhi
·         Maximum numbers of girls have been kidnapped.
·         80% are kidnapped from the migrant class
·         70% belong originally to Bihar and Eastern UP
·         50% belong to Muslim community
·         80% are from SC/ ST and OBC
·         90% are missing from JJ colony and slums
·         90% are from unorganized sector

In all the case studies it was found that immediate actions were not taken by the police on the complaints filed by the parents, and in spite of parents giving a complete details about the suspected trafficker. As the parents are illiterate they are not able to take the case forward to higher authorities and therefore the case remains unnoticed and no complaint is filed.

According to 2009 statistic by Delhi Police, the Capital has the maximum number of missing children in the country. On an average, 19 children go missing in Capital every day, at least 6 of whom are never reported back. The missing children are predominantly girls - a fact which leads to a striking revelation that most missing and trafficked children find themselves engulfed in the trap of forced labour including domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation.

The week long campaign on wheels with former child labourers trained in music and theater started on Sunday, April 4 aims to spread awareness and would cover South East and South Delhi on the issue of missing children, focusing on data collection from thrust areas and facilitating the formation of People’s Vigilance Committee at Zonal level. The theatre group is targeting migrant colonies and clusters like JJ Colony from where most number of children is reported to be missing. 

R.S Chaurasia, Chairperson BBA said, “Every other day we have a disappointed parents coming to BBA office looking for help in tracing their children. BBA has been providing legal help to the parents and also collaborated with Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights and National Human Right Commission to file complaints as well as rescue the children. Information is our tool of success, therefore I would urge each and every one of you to be active and see if any child is missing from your colony, home, town then to file complaints so that proper action could be taken. Mohammad Shafiq, an eleven-year-old boy who went missing from Govindpuri area of South Delhi was reported to BBA by his parents during the campaign. We need more information like this to trace the children back to their families.”