Times
of India: Meerut: Wednesday, 14 January 2015.
The number of
untraceable persons in Uttar Pradesh grew by over 50% in a year between 2013
and 2014, the UP Crime Records Bureau has revealed in reply to an RTI query
filed by Meerut-based activist LokeshKhurana. While 3,526 could not be traced
by the police in 2013, the number stood at 4,886 till October 31, 2014.
"The
purpose behind filing an RTI was to ascertain how many missing persons have not
been found by the state police in the past five years. The consistent rise in
the number of such people speaks volumes about the police department's
inefficiency," said Khurana. In the RTI filed on November 12 last year,
Khurana sought data on missing persons in the entire state from 2010 to 2014.
A comparison
between the 2010 and 2014 figures suggests that there has been a steep rise of
285% in the number of untraceable people in the state in the past five years.
As per the information provided by the bureau, cities like Meerut, Agra,
Allahabad and Lucknow top the charts. For instance, the highest number of untraceable
persons were reported from Lucknow (294), followed by Meerut (238), Agra (213)
and Allahabad (192).
The
information was provided in two categories - above 18 years and below 18 years.
In 2014, the number of untraceable persons above 18 years was 4,107 while the
ones below 18 years were 779. In comparison, in 2013, the number of such people
above 18 years was 2,851 and those below were 675.
Inspector
general, Meerut zone, Alok Sharma said, "The figures need to be
crosschecked. If 220 people go missing from a city in just 10 months and are
not found, it is certainly a very big issue. However, 40-50 people do go
untraceable and there are several reasons for that. Some of them are murdered
and their bodies are not found, others leave families for various reasons due
to socio-economic-religious pressures."
.JPG)
.JPG)
