Srinagar, August 2: According to official statistics from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, a total of 181 children from Jammu and Kashmir have gone missing between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.
According to the statistics, over the same time period, 58,546 children throughout India went missing.
Prior to this, statistics from the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) showed that by 2020, 627 children, including 350 boys and 277 girls, had disappeared in J&K.
In Jammu and Kashmir, 230 kids, including 167 girls and 63 boys, went missing in only 2020.
According to NCRB statistics, just 29.2 percent of the missing children in J&K were ever found.
Child Welfare Committees in J&K have saved and rehabilitated 817 children, including child workers, as part of the Mission Vatsalya Scheme.
The government said that 35 kids were arrested for drug-related crimes in the past five years, including those covered under the 1985 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Greater Kashmir was informed by Khair-ul-Nissa, chair of the Child Welfare Committee, that seven missing children were now in their care.
According to her, there are substantial differences in the causes of missing children cases involving residents and visitors.
Local youngsters often leave their families because of family disputes, but visitors mostly come for job possibilities, according to Nissa.
“We get reports of missing children, but the majority of these reports come from outside the area. We had previously reported missing cases involving locals as well, but they had been located within hours, and the issue had been settled, she added. Similarly, after consulting police and child welfare committees, we are returning the missing children who are not local to their parents.
Greater Kashmir was informed by Director of Mission Vatsalya, Harvinder Kaur, that there were committees and facilities where incidences of children going missing had been reported.
We’re doing all we can to treat these situations delicately, she added.
The Centre has put in place the ‘TrackChild’ platform, which enables any citizen to report missing or observed children, to address the problem of missing children.
This site is supported by a number of parties, including the National Legal Services Authority, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Railways, state and UT administrations, child welfare committees, juvenile justice boards, and state governments.
For the ‘TrackChild’ portal to be used effectively, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) have been released.
The Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network Systems (CCTNS) of the Ministry of Home Affairs are connected with the “TrackChild” portal, allowing FIRs of missing children to be matched with the “TrackChild” database to aid in efforts by the respective state and UT police to trace and reunite missing children.
