Delhi Police have launched several initiatives like 'Pehchaan', 'Sneh' and 'Milap' to deal with the issue of missing children.
Nearly five children were reported missing everyday in Delhi in the last five years, which includes 1,800 of those who are yet to be traced from the total list of 8,470 children below 12 years of age, according to records of the police.
"Not all children end up at shelter homes. The presence of several human trafficking rackets in the city raises concern. While the males are usually sold off at eateries, farms and residences to be engaged as extra hands, the girls are many times pushed into prostitution," said a senior police official.
Out of the 8,470 missing children, 4,620 were boys and 2,665 were girls. The 1,800 children which are untraceable, includes 600 girls. Almost half the children who have gone missing in these years, are aged below eight years and extremely vulnerable, around 830 of them including 350 girls are yet to be tracked, say police records.
The issue of missing children was highlighted after a three-year-old girl went missing from central Delhi's India Gate in September 2014. The incident, which went viral on social media, led to such a massive outrage that the alleged abductors abandoned the girl within a week.
After that incident, the police have rescued more than 1,200 missing children, which include around 650 of them aged between eight and 12 years. Nearly one-third of the 1,200 missing were girls, according to police records.
Delhi Police have launched several initiatives like 'Pehchaan', 'Sneh' and 'Milap' to deal with the issue.
In December, 2014, the crime branch of police launched Operation Milap, under which the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit checks various children homes in Delhi and scrutinise the records of such children whose details are either incomplete or sketchy. More than 200 children have so far been reunited with their families under this initiative.
"Officials thereafter closely engage with such children to derive information about their native place, etc. as would enable their families to be traced," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Ravindra Yadav.