Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In most of the recent child abduction cases in Bhopal, victims have come from slum settlements, migrant families or homeless groups, revealing how children from the city’s poorest sections remain most vulnerable to kidnappers.
Over the past two years, several such incidents have highlighted glaring gaps in safety of children living in makeshift shelters or on pavements.
The latest case involved a five-year-old girl kidnapped late Wednesday night from outside a temple in Habibganj. Her parents, both daily wage workers residing in a nearby slum, immediately alerted police. After an all-night search, she was rescued early Thursday near ISBT Govindpura.
Earlier, on September 22, a one-and-a-half-year-old boy was abducted from under Mangalwara overbridge, where his family lives in a roadside slum. The child was later recovered from Bijli Colony through CCTV footage, though kidnappers remain absconding.
In April 2023, a six-year-old girl from the Banjara community went missing from under the Koh-e-Fiza bridge. She was rescued months later, and police claimed her mother had hidden her to falsely implicate relatives.
On November 25, 2024, a two-year-old boy from a beggar family was kidnapped in Mangalwara. He was found 12 hours later with a woman named Shahida, who allegedly abducted him to use for begging.
In another disturbing case from October 2023 near Mata Mandir, two women lured away two sisters—aged 8 years and 11 months—under the pretext of a kanya bhoj. Both children, belonging to a beggar family, were rescued from a Kolar house. The women were linked to a Haryana-based gang.
Police officials admitted that most abduction victims come from marginalised families, often without secure housing or supervision. However, they said that in every such case, swift police response ensured that the children were rescued safely.
