Patna: Altogether 2730 children remained
missing in three years in Bihar since 2007, according to the
data available with the police headquarters.
While 889 children had been missing in 2007, the
figure is 975 and 866 in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
These children, either victims of child trafficking or
abducted for ransom, have not returned home after the missing
report was made to the police.
The percentage of missing children rescued or returned
on their own has been declining, the data revealed.
While the recovery rate of missing children was 63 per
cent children in 2007, it was 60 per cent in 2008 and only 23
per cent in 2009.
Describing the state government's attitude towards
protection of children as 'callous', Gauri Shankar Sharma,
president of 'Akash Akhansha', an NGO that works with
children, said the state government has failed to constitute
the State Child Rights Commission and State Child Protection
Unit without no regard for the Child Rights Protection Act,
2005.
The Social Welfare Department officials said setting
up of the State Child Rights Commission and State Child
Protection Unit was delayed due to framing of rules even as
the state government has given a go ahead for the same.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 17:39