PNS|Hyderabad
The overall analysis of data on missing cases indicates that 87% of the missing girls and women have been traced in Telangana due to serious efforts by the Telangana Police.
The Addl. Director General of Police, Women Safety Wing said, “It has been found that the cases of missing girls and women are not linked to any serious criminal activities like trafficking for sexual exploitation, child labour, bonded labour, begging, child marriages, removal of organs, transportation to other countries etc. 1n 99.9% of the missing cases of women and children no organised criminality was found involved. The statement was issued in response to reports of increasing missing cases of women and girls. In fact, the officer said that the data provided by Parliament is “not correct with reference to missing girls, that is, 8066. As per the NCRB data, the number of girls missing in the said period is only 6,497. It may be mentioned here that in the Lok Sabha, the data said 2840+2232+2994 girls were missing from 2019-2021.
“The percentage of successful tracing of missing girls and women is 87% in Telangana which is much higher than the national average of 62% and 53% tracing of girls and women respectively.
Telangana is amongst the top states in the country as far as tracing of missing persons is concerned. This has been possible only due to the relentless efforts made by the Telangana Police,” police said.
It is observed that the main reasons for the missing of girls and women are love affairs, family/marital disputes, financial reasons, elopements, unsoundness of mind, failure in studies etc. In most of these cases, women have been leaving their homes voluntarily. The police have been promptly registering all cases of missing persons and investigation is taken up immediately.
Further to make effective efforts to trace missing women and children, a dedicated Missing Monitoring Cell has been established in the Women Safety wing to monitor missing cases and help investigating officers to trace women and girls by extending technical support from time to time. Also, Anti-Human Trafficking Units have been established in all police units, which are also involved in tracing missing persons (especially women and children) and also creating awareness. The Telangana Police is also the first in the country to develop and use the facial recognition App called ‘Darpan’ for tracing missing children.
Operations Smile and Muskaan are conducted twice every year in Telangana to trace missing children, rescue child labour and bonded labour, begging children and street children and integrate them with their parents.
“It is wrong to say that cases of missing girls and women are on the rise,” the official said.
