Delhi police record of tracing missing children takes a hit

New Delhi: The success rate of the Delhi police in tracing missing children is slumping year by year with 2018 (from January till November) being at the bottom of the ladder. According to the data of Delhi police, in 2015 police traced almost 77 per cent missing children while in 2018 it is only 61 per cent.

In 2018, almost 18 children went missing in the national capital every day. Out of them, 7 remain untraced.

From 2015 till November 2018, as many as 27,356 children went missing and of them only 19,596 were traced.

However, the graph of total missing children has come down in 2018, states the data.

In 2015, almost 22 children went missing every day while 17 were traced. The total number of children who went missing in Delhi during 2015 was 7,928, out which 6,390 were traced back giving 2015 a success rate of 77 per cent. While in 2016, everyday 19 children went missing out which 14 were traced. In total, 5,109 children were traced out of 6,921 missing children with a 73 per cent success rate. However, in 2017 the data shows that 17 children went missing daily, out of which 12 were traced. Overall, 6,454 children were missing while 4,391 were traced with a success percentage of 70.

But the success rate of the police in tracing children came crashing to 61 per cent in 2018 (till November end). Out of 6,053 children who went missing in Delhi, with an average of 18 children per day, the police was able to trace only 3,706 children. Trafficking, kidnapping, abduction, and illegal adoption are some of the primary reasons for children going missing.