Chennai cops helpless against missing children being exploited

Chennai: A ‘Child missing’ case might seem unimportant to a police official, but the fact that it is directly linked with increasing crime rates is often hushed up. Apart from illegal adoption and begging, missed children are used for hard crimes including human trafficking.

In a sheer exploitation of the provisions of the Justice Juvenile (JJ) act, kidnapped children are also trained to commit crimes. “Aware of the provisions of JJ Act, under which child offenders are not subjected to critical punishment, criminals use children to perform the task,” said M. Andrew Sesuraj, State Convener, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory (TNCRO).

Unwillingness of police officials to register an immediate complaint, lack of coordination between the constitutional bodies dealing with child rescues and absence of security reforms in government hospitals are root causes behind the procrastination, when it comes to find out missing children.

Lack of swift action and insensitivity from police officials is a setback, say experts. “If the complaint is registered by the police immediately and flashed to all the police stations, it is possible to block the links. Cops regularly advise parents to search in their neighbourhood,” Andrew said.

However, a police official, said in defence of the force, “Among the missing children, a majority of them would have run away from their residences, due to family disputes. And most of them come back on the same day. It is for this reason that we don’t lodge a complaint.”

The mandate law of appointing a child welfare police officer of a Sub-Inspector rank at each police station is least followed, even though the law was enforced 15 years ago.

Narrating from his experiences, Andrew said, “Officers are nominated just for namesake. It is ironic that the appointed officer is often unaware of the designation given to him. Also, as they are not trained they know nothing about child laws.”

Police officials often seek the help of NGO’s or child line members, when the sensitive cases like child abuse were filed. A volunteer from the child help line told DC that there are calls from the police asking for advice. “It is important to understand the sensitivity of the issue, before counselling them. Training police officials is extremely important,” said the member from the child help line.