The figures provided by the missing cell of the state government reveal that more than one child goes missing every day in the city.
In the last six years, 2,954 children, under the age of 18, have done the ‘disappearing act'. Of these, 1,682 are girls and 1,272 boys. Many have returned to their respective homes or have been traced by the police. But 20% of them are still on the missing list.
The data reveals that 2,344 of the 2,954 children have been traced so far, but 610 are still missing. Of these, 219 were boys and 391 girls.
More complaints have been received of missing girls than that of boys, the figures disclose. Against 1,272 boys, 1,682 girls have gone missing -- which is 400 more members of the fairer sex. The figures of recent complaints, i.e. in the month of March 2012, of missing children registered at different police stations across the city, also justify the statistics. Of the 6 complaints in March so far, 5 are related to girls less than 17 years old.
Last year, 191 boys went missing from the city. There are no clues about the whereabouts of 112 of them. Family members are yet to trace 234 of the 383 girls who left their homes for unknown reasons, the statistics say. Twenty-eight of the 213 boys who 'disappeared' in 2010 belong to the 0-5 age group, while 47 were aged between 6 and 12 years. Twenty-one of the 331 girls who went missing in the same year were in the 0-5 age group, and 42 were between 6 and 12 years old.
In 2009, 217 boys went missing, 27 of them in the 0-5 age group, while 47 were aged between 6 and 12 years. In the same year, 19 of the 307 missing girls belonged to the 0-5 age group, while 27 were aged between 6 and 12 years.
The figures for missing boys in 2008, '07 and '06 were 231, 202 and 215, respectively. Twenty-one boys in 2008 belonged to the 0-5 age group and 46 were aged between 6 and 12. Of the 202 boys who went missing in 2007, 16 were in the 0-5 year age group and 55 were between 6 and 12 years old. Fifty-six children between 6 and 12 years old, and 23 in the 0-5 age bracket, were among the 215 boys who went missing in 2006.
In 2008, 239 girls went missing — 17 in the 0-5 age group, 37 between 6 and 12 years. Eleven girls in the 0-5 year group and 29 between 6 and 12 were among the 197 girls who 'vanished' in 2007.
