BHUBANESWAR: AS Odisha Police is all set to launch a special drive to trace and rescue missing children from January 18, DGP Abhay has directed the senior officers in the districts to review all the missing children cases in their respective jurisdictions and take steps to find them.
In a letter to all the SPs, Twin City DCPs and SPs of Cuttack and Rourkela Railways, the DGP noted with concern that there was much scope for improvement in tracing missing children in Odisha.According to the National Tracking System for Missing Children, there are 11,956 children missing in the State. In the last one year, 1,172 children went missing from the State, but only 256 have been traced and rescued by the police. The CID-Crime Branch has issued a series of elaborate guidelines to trace missing children.
A Crime Branch circular of February, 2020 has also been issued regarding the standard operating procedure (SOP) to be followed in case of missing persons.
Abhay asked the senior officers to instruct the IICs, OICs and SDPOs to review all the missing children cases in the police stations and trace them by following the SOP issued by the Crime Branch. “The officers should first contact the parents/guardians of all the missing children and update the records. They should also update the records of the children traced by them. The result of the drive should be intimated to the Crime Branch IG regularly,” he emphasised.
The SOP issued through the Crime Branch has listed immediate steps to be taken after initiation of an inquiry or investigation of a missing person’s case. However, much of it was not followed in the Nayagarh case where the district police is at the receiving end for its shoddy investigation.
In the circular, investigating and inquiry officers have been clearly instructed to find out the names of the possible suspects and interrogate them without any loss of time. Other immediate steps to be followed include examining close relatives, friends, associates and others related to the missing person and verify the facts and circumstances disclosed by them thoroughly.The police officers have been directed to try and elicit information regarding the likely cause of disappearance of the missing persons and then work on those lines.
ODISHA’S MISSING CHILDREN
There are 11,956 children missing in the State
In the last 1 year, 1,172 children went missing from the State, but only 256 have been rescued by the police (Data - National Tracking System for Missing Children)