To tackle problem, police to intensify awareness programmes for youth

Missing women cases shoot up

To tackle problem, police to intensify awareness programmes for youth

The rise in the number of missing women has got the city police worried. The Crime Branch has proposed identification of places where the number of cases is on the rise. Also, as a large number of missing women are young, the police plan to intensify awareness programmes in educational institutions.

Focus on Yerawada
According to a report compiled by the crime branch, Yerawada police station received the highest number of complaints of missing persons this year. There have been 340 registered complaints of missing people from this area and 138 among them are women.

Senior Police Inspector Dipak Sawant said, "The police station has a population of seven lakh under its jurisdiction. The area is quite large compared to other police stations. The number of migrated young population is also high in this area."

Of the total 1,317 women reportedly gone missing from the city this year, only 764 have been traced so far. A senior police officer said that the possibility of girls being forced into the flesh trade couldn't be ruled out. He said, "We do not have any specific information suggesting the girls who went missing wereu00a0 forced into prostitution. Besides girls rescued in Pune were from other places. Majority of them were from AP, Karnataka and Bengal."

Elopement angle
Police sources said in many cases of missing youngsters, a love affair leading to resistance from the family is the main reason. Police sources said youngsters often elope.

Till date, 2010 has seen 3,142 missing people's complaints reported across 29 police stations in the city. Only 1,340 were traced so far. Of the 3142 missing persons, 1,317 were women (above 18) and 377 (below 18 years). Only 352 of the minors have been traced so far. The official figures of people traced stands at 1,340.

Last year, 3,810 people were reported missing; 1,371 were traced. Of the total missing people, 1,459 were women, and 946 were traced. Of the 566 girls (below 18), 411 were traced.