Though a Supreme Court directive on missing and kidnapped persons has led to the Bangalore city police taking the issue seriously, they are having a hard time compiling data on such persons. A senior police officer said that this was not being done in a systematic way till recently, and hence, they are finding it difficult to streamline the process in such a short notice.
The city police, who have set up a missing persons bureau, is currently in the process of compiling details on the missing persons and distributing them among the public as well as police personnel in all the states across South India. And if police statistics are to be believed, there are more missing females than males.
“The Supreme Court states that the police should register a case of kidnapping if a man elopes with a minor girl, even if it is with her consent. If they had sex, a rape case should be registered. This has become very frequent in recent times, and nearly 80% of the missing cases pertain to women and girls,” a senior police officer with the City Crime Records Bureau (CCRB) said.
If any such case has been registered, all police officers are required to follow due procedures and alert the missing persons bureau immediately. “We are preparing a book with all the required details of missing persons, along with their photographs, which will be distributed at public places like railway stations, bus stands and airports as well as institutions like schools, colleges and NGOs. All police stations across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra will also get copies of the same,” the officer said. The book will contain an advisory for the people, asking them to be alert and prevent any situation that involves their loved ones going missing.
According to the officer, tracing children below the age of 14 is an especially difficult task. According to statistics, there are more cases of males going missing as compared to females when it comes to children of an below 14 years of age. However, the number of females missing is drastically more than males when it comes to people above that age.
The only problem currently faced by the missing persons bureau is the lack of sophisticated software to maintain accurate records. “Currently, there is just one constable manning the bureau, and everything has to be done manually,” the officer said.
Comments