Mumbai: The number of kidnapping cases of girls in Mumbai has witnessed a 22-fold rise over the last five years, revealed an RTI query. In 2013, Mumbai had witnessed just 92 cases of kidnapping of minors girls. The figure rose to an astronomical 2,000 in 2018.
Notably, there has been a steady increase in kidnappings of girls since 2013. As many as 92 girls were kidnapped from the city. Of them, 13 remain missing. In 2014, the number of girl kidnappings rose to 1,500. Of the kidnapped girls, 25 are still missing.
In 2015, the figure dropped to 927. Of them, 49 are missing even today. In 2016, the cases of girl kidnappings again rose to 1,169. Of them, 78 girls are remain untraceable. A year later in 2017, the figure jumped to 1,368. Of the kidnapped girls, 133 remain missing.
Last year, the number of kidnappings saw a massive increase with 2,000 girls reportedly going missing in Mumbai only. Of them, as many as 578 girls are yet to be found. Unfortunately, the kidnapped children are forced into begging or made to work in factories or some times are forced into prostitution.
When compared to girls, the number of boys being kidnapped has also witnessed a rise. In 2013, 87 cases of kidnapping related to boys were registered in the city, 35 boys are yet be found. In 2014, reported numbr of kidnapped boys rose to 1024, of them 41 remain untraceacble.
In 2015, as many as 653 boys were kidnapped, and 59 remain missing. In 2016, 734 boys were kidnapped, and 51 are yet to be located. In 2017, the figure of kidnapped boys was 889 and 70 remain untraceable. Last year, 1,041 boys were kidnapped and 249 are yet to be recovered or traced, revealed the RTI.
RTI activist Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh, shedding light on kidnapping incidents, said, “A rise of 22-fold over the last five years is certainly alarming. The Mumbai police should create a special branch to trace the missing children.”
