16 April,2011 06:30 AM IST | | Poornima Swaminathan
6-year old Karnit Shah, who went missing from home, is not alone. We delve into the dark world of those who vanish without a trace
The figures are dismal. They tell you that in the city, every month, hundreds of people go missing, and mostly, only half of them are ever traced.
A good percentage remains unaccounted for, gradually sliding into oblivion, becoming nothing more than a statistic, or a faded, forgotten poster on a rusty lamppost. The bare uncertainty surrounding them is disturbing, for kin and cops alike.
Cops have passed on Karnit Shah's photographs to police stations across the country
Police are clueless about where the missing people are, but social scientists say, wherever it is, it is probably not a good place.
The missing cases are all the more worrisome, even sinister, because in a city that is host to a bloating underbelly of crime, being engulfed in the felonious world isn't hard to imagine.
After six-year-old Karnit Shah went missing from his Kandivli residence, MiD DAY gives you an overview of the city's lost, who the city's missing are, what they possibly go through, and if they ever return.
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In Mumbai, barely four months into 2011, and around 686 missing cases were registered every month in police stations across the city.
In the last three and a half months, the tally climbed up to 2,058 cases. Of these, only 1,282 persons were traced or returned home. The remaining, a good 40 per cent - around 200-odd women and 250-odd children remain untraceable.
Women and children form a majority of the untraceable pie in any given year, maybe because they are more susceptible to being victimized, given their physiological inability to defend themselves, social scientists say. The figures this year are exceptionally high compared to previous two years (see box).
Whatever the case, in every household where a kin goes missing, the agony is the same - the wait for the dear one is endless, the uncertainty maddening, and the helplessness frustrating.
What happens then
A harsh fate awaits those who go astray, those involved in tracing them said. Some women who don't return home become victims of the human trafficking while children are exploited as labourers in hotels, restaurants and street stalls where they run errands, wash utensils and do odd jobs.
"Most children that go untraced eke out a living in hotels or beg at railway stations and shrines," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajkumar Vhatkar.
Observing a pattern in children and teenagers between 8 and 20 years of age, senior police officials said that most of those who went missing probably bolted, because they were rebellious and did not want to study or conform to discipline laid down at home.
"While counselling missing children who we manage to trace, we learned that they were uninterested in studies," said a police official from Dharavi police station. "They were fed up with their parents insisting them to pursue studies, or asking them to obey rules and conventions," he added.
"Many women who leave home are victims of domestic violence. They stray around and end up either being victims of commercial sexual exploitation or in destitute homes," said Vijay Raghavan, associate professor, Centre for Criminology and Justice, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Since it's so easy to get sucked into the fringes of criminal dens in the city, every missing person's case registered is a worry for the police. "They may turn to petty crimes or may be forced into it, you never know," said an official.
Some, however, die. Anonymous. "A few of these cases are accident victims and their bodies remain unclaimed for a long time," added Vhatkar. While many voluntarily return to their homes, NGOs, family and friends and the police help in tracing those that seem to have vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but grief and riddles behind.
Case study
Take the case of Hamida Shaikh, who lost her eight-year-old son from Malwani three years ago. Angry with his pranks, the kid's father, Samsher, spanked him. Enraged, he left the house and did not return.
"We registered a case with the police then. We still make regular visits. Nobody has any clue about my son," said Hamida, who lives in a one-room tenement. Her husband, a rickshaw driver, still hasn't forgiven himself. Said Hamida, "I really hope he returns one day. He was a naughty but adorable child."
No database
Despite the glaring number of cases, the grim prospects that surround the missing, and a crying need for organised records, the country doesn't have an extensive database of the missing.
Unlike other countries such as the US and the UK, India does not have an integrated and centralised database of missing persons in the country. In 2008, the NHRC had recommended to the Centre the creation of an
integrated database comprising cases of missing persons and unclaimed bodies. However, this has not been implemented yet.
Court directives
Jan '11: The Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra government to come up with a policy to trace missing persons. The court was hearing a petition filed by Jitendra Singh, whose 12-year-old mentally-challenged child, Ashish, went missing from Pune railway station in November 2010.
But the policy is not in place yet.u00a0Dec '10: The BHC directed the Mumbai Crime Branch to maintain a case diary for every missing person, where regular progress made in the case can be logged in. The logs are maintained.
Procedure
Currently, every police station has a team of five cops a police sub-inspector and four constables which is assigned the missing cases. These policemen are simultaneouslyu00a0 burdened with keeping track of other wanted criminals, including those accused of theft, robbery and murder. Hence, there is always a shortage of staff.
The process followed by cops, once a case is registered, is as follows:
1 Publish the description in a police notice and flash a wireless message
2 Issue a circular carrying a photo and description of the person to all police stations
3 A 10x12 inch photograph of the missing person is sent to Doordarshan for telecast
4 Field enquiries are made at guesthouses, hospitals, railway stations, airport, bus stands, and parks
5 Enquiries are made at the Railway Missing Persons Bureau
6 With the consent of the relatives, photographs with description of the missing person are published in newspapers, local TV channels and also on the Internet
Number Game
22621549
The 24-hour police helpline for reporting missing people
Stats
According to figures available with the Missing Persons Bureau of the Mumbai Police, the number of cases registered for missing persons, and those traced, are:
