In a significant development on International Missing Children’s Day, Child Rights and You (CRY), a leading child rights NGO, has commended the Ministry of Home Affairs for successfully tracing a large number of children who had gone missing during the pre and post-pandemic period from 2019 to 2021. The data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, sourced from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports, indicates a decline in the number of missing children in the country. CRY appreciates the work done by the government and related agencies, while urging them to maintain their vigilance in addressing this issue.
According to the NCRB data presented in Parliament by the Minister of State for Home Affairs on March 12, 2023, the total number of missing children, including those from previous years who remained unrecovered or untraced, displayed an increasing trend from 2019 to 2021, with a slight decline in 2020. However, there was an overall 12.12% rise in the total number of missing children from 2020 to 2021 at the national level.
Additionally, the data reveals an improvement in the total recovery and tracing of children below 18 years old from 2019 to 2021 at the national level, with an 18.98% increase in total recovered/traced children during the same period.
The period before and after the pandemic has been particularly challenging for many children. Some lost both their parents to COVID-19, leading to a significant number of dropouts from schools and an increased risk of child trafficking, child labour, and early marriages. The absence of parental protection exposed children to an uncertain future, relying on immediate or distant relatives for support.
While Maharashtra, like other states, witnesses a high number of missing children each year, the NCRB data for 2021 highlights that an almost equal number of children have been successfully traced in the state. Similarly, Chhattisgarh has made commendable progress in recovering missing children, despite facing numerous cases of child trafficking over the years.
Kumar Nilendu, General Manager of Development Support at CRY – West, emphasised the positive trend in tracing children and expressed encouragement for the increased efforts by the police and related systems across different states. However, he stressed the importance of understanding the challenges faced by vulnerable families and children as a society, and called for robust planning, resource allocation, and implementation of policies and plans to mitigate these issues.
