Treat missing children as a loss of national wealth

Children are the future of the country. In fact, a test of civilisation is how well a society treats its children. India is unlikely to score high on this count, given the cavalier manner in which children are treated. A public interest litigation (PIL), now being heard by the Supreme Court, is a pointer to the sorry state of affairs in this regard. The petitioner has alleged, quoting Government of India statistics, that 1,77,600 children went missing between 2009 and 2011, out of which 55,450 have remained traceless so far. Statisticians may point out that for a population of over 1.2 billion, the number of missing children may not be high.

Even a single child missing is a matter of grave concern to the family concerned and the society in which it lived. Allowance has also to be made for the fact that a large number of cases of missing children, particularly from the rural areas and urban slums, are not even reported to the police. In many places, the police are reluctant to record such cases as they want fewer cases on their register. On their part, the parents are also not keen to file cases because they take it for granted that the police would do precious little to trace out the children, unless the child involved has ‘important’ connections.

The apex court has asked the central and state governments to explain what they have done so far to bring the children back to their families. While it would be instructive to know what the governments have done, it is highly improbable that such a large number of children could have gone missing without the involvement of organised child traffickers. It would not be surprising if many of them are tortured by people who make a living by exploiting vulnerable kids. It’s also possible that some of them might have left their homes of their own volition, for reasons that might not show their parents, relatives and neighbours in a good light. Needless to say, all such children need to be saved from anti-social elements.