Vital clues that helped reunite 8,000 lost kids with their families

New Delhi: An official from Delhi Police said that some children were traced with the help of one clue like name of ponds or their village name.

"Things are tough but at least we bring back the smile of children who have been missing and living alone in the Capital," said the officer.

Many of the things were same for the life of more than 8,000 children who were traced by Delhi Police in the current and previous year.

Police sources told Millennium Post that more than 5,100 children were traced in the year 2016 whereas more than 3,100 children were traced in 2017 (till September).

In two years, more than 700 children under the age of 8 years were traced whereas more than 900 children were traced in the age group of 8 to 12 years. In the age group of 12-18 years, more than 6,400 children were traced.

One of the investigators stated that they had very fewer clues to trace their families.Sometimes they used to tell them that there was a pond between two villages from where the child used to go to school. After four to five counseling sessions of the children, they used to give them the name of the village after which the trace begins.

"Sometimes the child used to tell the name of the neighbouring village after which we used to trace the all the neighboring villages in search of the family," said the police personnel.

Sometimes the language of the children was not understood for which counselor would again play a major role.

"In many cases, we used to understand their expressions if they are giving some signals or sometimes we used to give them pen and paper where they wrote something or drew any picture which was quite helpful for us," said the official.

Sources further claimed that in the year 2017 (0-8) around 147 children remained untraced whereas in the age group of 8-12 around 150 children remained untraced. At least 1,532 children remained missing at the age group of 12-18 years.

In the year 2017, more than 400 cases of abduction were reported whereas more than 4,000 cases of kidnapping was reported. In both the reported crimes, more than 2,400 cases were solved by the police.

An official stated that there were children who do not want to go home. When they were asked about the reason, they said that their family members beat them or for some step-parents were the reason.

Recently, anti-human trafficking unit of Crime Branch of Delhi Police traced 15 children from New Delhi Railway Station and then reunited with their parents. These children in the age group of 10 to 16 years revealed that they were all school dropouts and in order to earn quick bucks, they had escaped from their homes.