8400 children go missing in Assam in five years

GUWAHATI: More than 8,400 children were reported missing from Assam in the last five years, while nearly half of them remained untraced so far even as emphasis has been put in rehabilitation of rescued children with their families wherever possible.
Altogether 8,443 children were reported missing from the state during the period from 2013 to 2017, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary informed Assam Legislative Assembly here on Monday.
He was replying to a question on child trafficking raised by BJP legislator, Dr Numal Momin.
The highest number of 1839 missing children cases in the last five years were reported in 2017, followed by 1733 in 2016 and 1674 in 2015. Patowary further said 4377 missing children were recovered in the last five years, while the remaining were untraced so far.
Among the rescues and recoveries, 1086 children were recovered in 2017, while 911 children were recovered in 2015 and 901 in 2016.
The minister also elaborated on the rehabilitation measures for the recovered children, as per provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, adding that stress is given on restoring the children with their families, wherever possible.
The children who are surrendered, abandoned or orphaned, are given for adoption.
At present, there are 122 Child Care Institutions in the state, including four government-run children homes, five government-run observation homes and one government-run place of safety.