‘Missing’ list continues to grow - Assam police yet to solve more than 50 per cent of reported cases

Guwahati, Aug. 24: Among the people who are reported missing every year in the state, more than 50 per cent remain untraceable. What is even more worrying is the fact that the number of such reports has doubled in the past five years.
While the criminal investigation department (CID) of Assam police received 1,127 complaints about people going missing in 2005, the figure went up to 2,291 in 2010.
Data showed that about 40 per cent of the missing persons were female adults, triggering fears that more women were falling prey to trafficking rackets active in the region.
Till April 2011, the police had received 754 complaints about missing persons, including 318 female adults.
Although specific district-wise data about missing people is not available, the police and investigators here said Nalbari, Nagaon, Morigaon and Kamrup districts reported the maximum number of such cases. They added that at least six complaints about young girls going missing from these districts were received every month.
A police officer associated with the anti-trafficking cell said investigations had revealed that many young girls had gone missing from Nalbari, Nagaon and Kamrup districts in the past few years. The police and NGOs later rescued some of them from the clutches of traffickers in the metros.
“There are some other reasons behind people going missing. We have found that parents of many young girls lodge complaints with us after they elope,” the official added.

The number of complaints about missing persons is increasing but the police are yet to trace more than 50 per cent of them.
In 2010, the total number of complaints stood at 2,291, with the police managing to trace only 998.
Since 2005, the CID reported 3,993 complaints of female adults going missing; the police have traced only 1,427 so far.
Similarly, 4,843 cases of missing children were reported across the state between 2005 and April 2010; the police managed to trace only 1,646.
Activists working in the field of human trafficking expressed concern over the fact that the more reports about missing persons were flowing in from backward areas of the state. They said human traffickers were targeting char (riverine) areas, which, while being inhabited by people from minority communities, lack avenues for employment.
“The women we have rescued from many brothels in the metros told us that they were lured by traffickers with promises of jobs and once they were out of the region, they were forced into the flesh trade. Most Assam girls, who were rescued from the metros, were originally from Morigaon, Nagaon and Kamrup districts. Many fall prey to traffickers because of poverty and the lack of employment here,” Global Organisation for Life Development general secretary Rajiv Kumar Sharma said.
Last week, the NGO rescued five young girls from a brothel in Pune and brought them back to Guwahati today.
Sarma said the five girls, who hailed from Morigaon district, were lured away by three persons with promises of giving them jobs outside the state; but later, they were forced into prostitution.

On August 18, Union minister of women and child development Krishna Tripathi informed the Rajya Sabha that according to records available with the National Crime Records Bureau, 236 cases of human trafficking had been reported so far in Assam and 616 people had been arrested in Assam under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act during 2000-2009.

“The government is taking measures to combat trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and rehabilitation of the victims of trafficking. Under the Ujjawala scheme, 21 new projects have been sanctioned in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, which includes 12 rehabilitation homes,” the minister said, replying to questions by Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, Bhubaneswar Kalita.

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