Agra tops list of missing people in div: RTI

Times of India: Agra: Friday, 10 July 2015.

The district administration has launched a month-long 'Operation Smile' to trace missing children in Agra from July 1. The official data reveals that 64 children went missing in the city between January and October, 2014 alone, and 24 (37.5%) still remain untraced. The information was revealed in response to an RTI query.

According to information, police have formed a team comprising a sub-inspector and two constables at each police station to coordinate with one another and mount an exercise to trace the missing children.

Additional city magistrate (III) PD Gupta said, "Instructions have also been passed by women and child development department to instantly upload the pictures and details of the missing children on the government website. Moreover, police have been asked to propagate the message to every district to report to concerned police station if any information about missing kid comes to notice."

Gupta added that the campaign is being carried in collaboration with the help of NGOs and coordinators of shelters homes. They are also asked to try and trace missing kids who are admitted there.

The city tops the list in the number of people going missing in the division comprising four districts of the state. An RTI reply has revealed that 45 children out 904, who went missing during the past five years, 2010-2014, still remain untraceable.

Human rights activist Naresh Paras, who obtained the data through an RTI query, said the figures point toward a very disturbing trend of rising gap between missing people and those who remain untraced.

Paras, who also attends monthly meetings of the missing department of the police, highlighted the fact that in a majority of cases it is the parents or the relatives who trace their children on their own, and without police support.

Paras said, "The 'Operation Smile' is a big success in Ghaziabad and inspired by its success, now police have launched it in every UP district. I hope police will now instantly lodge missing complaint, instead of making parents run from pillar to post to get their voice heard."

As far as other districts of the Agra division are concerned, in Mathura 237 children were reported missing during the last five years, while 56 are untraceable.

In Mainpuri, 61 out of 210 missing children are untraceable, while police are yet to locate whereabouts of 135 out of 311 missing adults. Firozabad also fares poorly in this direction. During 2010-2014, 334 children have been found missing while 59 are yet to return home.