Bhubaneswar: Between June 2024 and Feb this year, Odisha police managed to trace only 7,048 individuals out of 20,060 missing persons cases lodged during the period, according to chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi‘s written reply in the assembly on Monday. Majhi was responding to Congress MLA Sofia Firdous’s query, outlining the challenges faced in tracing the missing persons.
Majhi explained that late reporting by families posed a major hurdle. He noted that numerous individuals left for work without informing their families, resulting in missing persons reports. Additionally, elopement also led to frequent registration of such cases.
“Family members’ reluctance to share crucial information with police for fear of social stigma and other reasons often impedes case resolution,” Majhi said. He revealed that the ministry of women and child development department launched the Mission Vatsalya portal to aid in locating missing persons and reuniting families. The CM mentioned that the integration of facial recognition technology with the programme would help identify missing children.
Majhi also pointed out difficulties arising from child welfare committees (CWCs) not uploading information online about children in child care institutions (CCIs) across the country, which hampers identification process.
He highlighted govt funding proposals to bolster the Integrated Anti-Human Trafficking Units, Special Juvenile Police Units, and police stations to improve their operational capacity and mobility in rescuing missing persons, including children.