According to DCPCR, 17 kids go missing daily in Delhi. To improve its track-record, the police has prepared a blueprint for giving rewards or out-of-turn promotions to cops if they trace such children early. Activists say the move will motive police personnel, reports Gayathri Mani.
It was an emotional moment for physically challenged Gita (name changed) and her parents when they were reunited after 10 long years in August. Gita had gone missing from South Delhi’s Kidwai Nagar when she was just four years old. She was found roaming in Tughlakabad area by the police. In a similar case, Rohan Singh, a minor, was traced and reunited with his family after almost three-and-a-half-years on July 31.
Rohan, who had gone missing from INA, was traced from a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district. Zakir Khan (name changed), however, wasn’t that fortunate. Missing since March from Outer North area, he was found dead in August by the police. Till last year, on an average, at least 17 children went missing in the national capital every day and at least two of them remain untraced, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) revealed in its report recently. According to the police, due to a lack of information, coordination between departments concerned and stakeholders, they fail to trace the missing children.
To improve its track-record, Delhi Police commissioner SN Shrivastava, earlier this month, issued an order saying any constable or head constable who finds at least 50 missing children aged below 14 (of whom at least 15 children must be up to eight years old) in a year would be eligible for an out-of-turn promotion. The order is seen as a bid to incentivise and encourage efforts at reversing the trend of the disappearance of children in the city.
Last week, Shrivastava also tweeted about it. “In the last two months only, 724 children aged below 18 years, have gone missing. Of these 537 have been rescued. Those police officers who rescue 50 missing children in 12 months will be given out of turn promotions. It will help in preventing such crimes,” the commissioner tweeted in Hindi.
According to the police, around 22,567 children had gone missing in 2019 in the city, out of which 12,996 have been traced.
While 9,571 children in are still untraced. The DCPCR report includes the findings, court orders, guidelines and SOPs to be followed by different stakeholders including the police, district magistrates, child rights panels and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), among others was released at the Delhi Secretariat.
A new special team in every police station will have officers comprising two constables, one head constable and a sub-inspector.
The team will report to the ACP. Many police stations in south and south-east districts have already formed their special teams following the order. Amar Colony police station, which has formed an all-woman team, has been at the forefront to trace missing kids. Anita, a police constable and a member of the team, has traced 20 children within one month.
“Till now, constables were not allowed in the investigation of any major cases. Thus, this scheme will motivate us to trace more children. More than the promotion, reuniting a child with her/his family is more satisfying for us,” says Anita.
According to a recent data shared by the Delhi Police, on an average, approximately 12 children go missing per day in 2020. Of which at least nine are traced by the newly formed special investigating teams. The data showed in June and July, a total of 724 children had gone missing, of which 537 have been traced and reunited with their parents.
The data further revealed that up to the age group of 18 years, the missing rate of boys is higher than that of girls. Besides, in a mass searching, under Operation Milap across the country, the South-east district police has traced a total of 53 missing people, including 16 children, from Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru, Patna, Dholpur, Alwar.
“The reports of missing children are much less as compared to previous years. After the relaxations in Covid-19 lockdown, the police have become more active in tracing missing children cases. Most of the police personnel were deployed in the Covid-19 duty. The Delhi Police chief ’s priority is children’s protection.
At every law and order meeting, all districts have to submit their audit and data of missing and traced children,” a senior police official, on condition of anonymity, says.
According to the Union Ministry of Woman and Child Development’s tracker, around 20 children go missing in Delhi every day, of which six are traced. About 280 children went missing in the last 30 days, of which 220 children have been traced.
Further, till August 15, a total of 3,376 children have been reported missing and 2,226 children have been recovered. Around 1,250 children are still missing. TrackChild portal is an initiative of the WCD Ministry launched in 2012.
All state police update information, including the data of missing and recovered children and their pictures, on the website.
What is out-of-turn promotion scheme?
The scheme is a brainchild of Police Commissioner SN Srivastava, who announced it in the first week of August.
According to him, a missing child is a horrific and emotional experience for any family. “In order to encourage policemen to put in more efforts to recover a child below 14 years, an incentive has been announced that on recovering 50 children in 12 calendar months, a head constable or constable will be entitled to out-of-turn promotion,” he said.
Currently, a constable gets a promotion after five years in service, that too only if he or she clears a test. If the person does not take the test, it takes around 10 years to become a head constable. Also, those who recover at least 15 missing children below 14 years — of whom five children are less than eight years old — in a year, they would be considered for the Asadharan Karya Puraskar (AKP) with a reward of Rs 20,000.
The medal is conferred to the official who goes beyond all limits and cracks a case by risk his/her lives.
According to an official, the scheme was first launched in Faridabad by the Haryana Police a few years ago. “The scheme will definitely help reduce missing children cases in Delhi and boost the morale of junior-rank cops. Also, under this scheme, they will not only get a promotion but also get an opportunity to investigate such cases individually,” says a senior police official.
“Earlier, a similar promotion scheme was launched to track down fugitives This scheme will certainly motivate the cops, and in a way, more children would be reunited with their parents.
We have reviewed the scheme and deployed more staff to the existing Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU). Since its announcement, there has been an increase in the number of recovery of missing children. More children will be recovered in the coming days,” says R P Meena, DCP south-east district.
A 14-year-old girl from Agra, who had been missing since March, was first traced by the Hazarat Nizamuddin police and then, handed over to her parents in August. But due to lack of coordination between the states and police stations, the girl had to stay at an observation home in the Anti-Trafficking Human Unit (AHTU)’s Chattarpur unit.
‘Why only for missing children cases’?
“It is a very good move and will help junior-rank cops to get a recommendation for their hard work. But, there is a problem with the incentivising of their work. I don’t see it requires incentives to do extra work. Why only for the missing children cases? Any crime against children should be taken seriously,” Satya Prakash, a programme manager of the FXB India Suraksha, an NGO. Varun Pathak, another activist working relentlessly on child protection, from NGO World for Equality, said: “No doubt it’s a great step to solve the missing children cases.
But constables often put pressure on the parents of missing children. They take money from them for petrol expenses, hotel charges — if they have to travel outside the city.
Acts of harassment and bribery should be dealt with an iron hand. The ACP should step in to deal with such incidents.” Delhi Commission for Woman (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal believes it’s a good step by the Delhi Police as it is incentivising good work.
“Till now, it appeared that missing children are not a priority for the Delhi Police. The AHTU is also not formed properly. When we issue a notice in missing children cases, the attitude of the Police is so laid back, at times, it appears that they are not serious about such cases,” she says.
Maliwal adds that the police should also find out why children go missing in the city and should bust human-trafficking rackets.
“The missing children are often victims of human trafficking, sex trade and bonded labourers. The national capital has always been a hotspot of human trafficking. They kidnap children from Delhi and send them to other states,” Maliwal says.
Mohit Kumar Gupta, an advocate at the Delhi High Court who represents child victims, says: “Any step which makes it possible to reunite a child with his or her parents is laudable. And if it is about incentivising the honest efforts of the police personnel, it should be implemented without any delay.” Gupta adds: “Justice dispensation to child victims has progressed lately, but they are still disregarded as important stakeholders.
Tracing and reuniting children with their parents should have the immediate and self-desired pursuit of the police, and service incentives are equally the need of the hour.”
Another activist said in most cases, girls fall prey to the hands of fake placement agencies, human trafficking and flesh trade. Many are even trafficked and sold abroad. Many children are pushed into organ trafficking, illegal adoption and begging.
Hotspots of missing children
According to the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), the most vulnerable police station areas are those in the border districts such as Narela, Shahbad Dairy, Jaitpur, Vijay Vihar, Khajuri Khas, Dabri, Uttam Nagar and Mehrauli.
“These are border areas and accommodates a large number of migrants, labourers, daily wagers. These places have a large number of slums. The children are often go missing in slum areas and outskirts because there is no one to take care of them,” says a senior police officer of outer Delhi. The Delhi Police has also launched a ‘Pehchan’ Scheme, especially for these areas.
Under which a ‘pehchan patra’ (identity documents)of children such as Aadhaar card is made. So, whenever there is a missing case, the parents and the police will have information about the child and would be useful for speedy investigation.
Under this scheme, more than 2 lakh identity cards have been issued so far, says the police.