DOI: 10.1111/aswp.

12116

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Sociologies of India’s missing children

Rituparna Bhattacharyya1,2,3,4
1
School of Aeronautical, Automotive,
Chemical and Materials Engineering
The sociologies of India’s missing children merit spatial and contextual examination.
Loughborough University, Leicestershire, The sociological space into which a child goes missing is highly under-researched in
UK
2
India. Building on overarching narratives emerging from secondary sources and
Independent Researcher, North Shields,
UK existing literature on Indian children’s vulnerability and precarity, the article aims to
3
Journal Space and Culture, India, North evaluate the landscape of missing children. The analyses suggest that a number of
Shields, UK
interconnected sociologies contribute to the phenomenon of missing children –
4
Alliance for Community Capacity Building
in North East India, North Shields, UK these children are mainly from the poorer backgrounds, who are kidnapped, traf-
ficked, or lured largely for social, commercial, and sexual exploitation. This research
Correspondence
Rituparna Bhattacharyya, North Shields, UK. was conducted to gain a deeper understanding into the problem of missing children
Email: rituparna.bhattacharyya@accb.org.uk in order to address the gaps that require intervention.

KEYWORDS
bride buying, India, missing children, missing women, secondary sources, trafficking

1 | INTRODUCTION

There is a large discourse worldwide on missing people (including children) (Best, 1987, 1988, 1990; Boss, 1999, 2002, 2008; Gair & Moloney,
2013; Gattas, Figaro-Garcia, Landini, & Estes, 2012; Fritz & Altheide, 1987; Holmes, 2008; Min & Feaster, 2010; Parr & Fyfe, 2013; Parr & Ste-
venson, 2015; Parr, Stevenson, Fyfe, & Woolnough, 2016; Parr, Stevenson, & Woolnough, 2016). Gair and Moloney (2013, p. 90) define a
missing person as “someone whose whereabouts are unknown and fears exist for the safety and welfare of that person” (Parr & Fyfe, 2013;
Parr & Stevenson, 2014, 2015; Parr, Stevenson, Fyfe et al., 2015; Parr, Stevenson, & Woolnough, 2016). In the Anglo-American context, the
phrase “missing children” denotes:

. . .three familiar phenomena: runaways (children—most often adolescents—who chose to leave home and usually returned within a few
days); child-snatching (non-custodial parents who illegally took their own children without the custodial parent’s permission); and abduc-
tions by strangers (who might keep, sell, ransom, molest or kill the child) (Best, 1987; p. 103; Best, 1988, 1990; Min & Feaster, 2010).

In countries like Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Panama, Peru, and Mexico, the common vocabulary referred to for missing person is de-
saparecido (disappeared) (Boss, 2002). In India, it is called Gumshuda or (Lapata) Vyakti and similarly, a missing child is known as Lapata Bacche
or Sishu. Until now, the realm of the social sciences – sociology, social work, human geography – have largely neglected the problem of missing
children in India; however, there is emerging literature on child labor (paid, unpaid, and bonded labor), child trafficking, and bride buying
rin, 2013; Joffres et al., 2008; Mishra, 2000; Prakash & Vadlamannati, 2014; Roy, Singh, &
(Dyson, 2008, 2014; Ghosh, 2009, 2013, 2014; Gue
Roy, 2015; Sarkar, 2014; Varma, 2013).1
Indeed, the notion of missing children only emerged in the public consciousness for the first time in 2004 when the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) Action Research established a connection between missing children and trafficking (Sen & Nair, 2004). The
definition of missing children, however, remained ambiguous until the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an advisory on missing chil-
dren on January 31, 2012. The advisory, as per the Justice Juvenile (Care And Protection Of Children) Act (JJA), 20002 defines a missing
child as:

90 | © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/aswp Asian Soc Work Pol Rev 2017; 11: 90–101
BHATTACHARYYA | 91

A person below 18 years of age whose whereabouts are not known to the parents, legal guardians or any other person who may be
legally entrusted with the custody of knowing the whereabouts/wellbeing of the child whatever may be the circumstances/causes of
disappearance. The child will be considered missing and in need of care and protection, until located and/or his/her safety/wellbeing is
established.3

Arguably, the sociologies of India’s missing children are far more complex and nuanced. A number of interlaced sociologies create this prob-
lem: multi-dimensional levels of poverty,4,5 unemployment, insurgency, communal conflicts, loss of livelihood resulting from recurring floods
and rampant erosion, and migration from rural to urban areas. Missing children, most of whom are usually but not necessarily from penurious
families, remain at high risk of becoming victims to avaricious criminal activities: bonded labor, domestic help, trafficked and forced into beg-
ging or sex work, or for illegal organ trade (Ghosh, 2014; Mishra, 2000; Malhotra & Malhotra, 2012; Mamidi & Mamidi, 2015; Sen & Nair,
2004; Sarkar, 2014; also, Bhattacharyya, 2015c).6 Sources also report that some children from both urban and rural poor households run away
from their homes to escape poverty and (or) physical abuse (Mathur, 2009; Mathur, Rathore, & Mathur, 2009; Tiwary, 2014).
The umbrella phrase of “missing” embraces another connotation. It incorporates the quagmire of missing women (Anderson & Ray, 2012;
Balan & Mahalingam, 2014; Bhattacharyya, 2014; Hu & Schlosser, 2015; Jha et al., 2011; Sen, 1990, 1992, 2003; Varma, 2013). The notion of
missing women was introduced into the academic parlance by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen to sketch the skewed gender ratio (stemming
mainly from female feticide) of some of the developing countries of the world – Asia and North Africa, with a focus on India (Sen, 1990, 1992,
2003; also, Anderson & Ray, 2012). Evidently, the scourge of missing women is deep-rooted and is one of the causes contributing to missing
children. Against these backdrops and based on secondary research, this article aims to probe the dynamics of the entangled spaces and scales
that contributes to gaining a deeper spatial and contextual understanding of the sociologies of India’s missing children. In so doing, the research
aims to open up larger debates into the notion of missing children in India. The next section deals with mapping the construction of missing
children.

2 | CONSTRUCTION OF THE NOTION OF MISSING CHILDREN

A burgeoning realm of scholarship encompasses sociological theories of childhood, ranging from Piaget’s (1959, 1997) theories of moral, psy-
chological, and cognitive child development to the social construction of children including the importance of childhood in the early years of
development (Aries, 1973; Church & Summerfield, 1994; Hernandez, 1995; Mayall, 1994; Qvortrup, 2005; Qvortrup, Bardy, Sgritta, & Winters-
berger, 1994; Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart, 2010; Wagg, 1992). Many of these studies have undoubtedly pointed out
the paradoxes and paradigms for better representations of children and childhood This research is focused on India’s missing children, currently
under-represented within the discipline.
In the United States (US), the notion of missing children emerged in 1981 and gained prominence with pictures of missing children “on milk
cartons and grocery bags, billboards and televised public service messages” (Best, 1987; pp. 102–103; Best, 1988, 1990; Fritz and Altheide,
1987; see also, Parr & Fyfe, 2013). The US adopted different measures to create awareness and track missing children. Some of these
measures included:

. . .toy stores and fast food restaurants distri[buting] abduction-prevention tips for both parents and children. Parents could have their
children finger-printed or videotaped to make identification easier; some dentists even proposed attached identification disks to chil-
dren’s teeth. Commercial identification kits were available and at least one catalog offered a transmitter which could be attached to a
child’s clothing (Best, 1987, p. 102).

However, little research has been conducted on India’s missing children sociologies. Concerns that emerge as soon as a child goes missing
are: Where could the child go? Is the child still alive? Has the child being trafficked/kidnapped? Will the child ever be found? These are, per-
haps, some of the questions that prompt an emotional and anxious response in parents/relatives in their attempts to trace the child. Scholars
refer to this ambiguous loss and emotional space of absence as “living in limbo” (Holmes, 2008; Parr, Stevenson, & Woolnough, 2016; also,
Parr, Stevenson, Fritz & Altheide, 1987; Fyfe et al., 2015; Parr & Stevenson, 2014, 2015). The disappearance of a three-year-old British child
from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007, which created international media headlines and whose search still remains active,
perhaps best reflects a family’s traumatic and emotional experience of living in limbo (Parr & Fyfe, 2013; Rayner, 2015).
Boss (1999, 2002, 2008) refers to the concept of “ambiguous loss” as the unique experience of loss encountered by the families of missing
persons, where their loved one is physically absent but psychologically present with them at all times (Holmes, 2008; Parr, Stevenson, & Wool-
nough, 2015). Different cases of missing child(ren) of course, produce different impacts on families; however, the social and emotional impacts
on families remain interconnected: sadness, pain, emotion, families blaming themselves and living with a sense of guilt, anger at the missing
92 | BHATTACHARYYA

person, negative comments and a feeling of rejection by society (Holmes, 2008), the parents/relatives of missing child(ren) continue the helm
of their search practices and live with the hope of finding their child(ren).
Central to this research is an evaluation of the contested interconnections between missing children and sociologies of precarity and vul-
nerability suggesting that children in India largely go missing as a result of social, commercial, and sexual exploitation. The following sections
discuss the intersections between India’s missing children and terrains of precarity, first, drawing upon the legal context.

2.1 | Contextualizing the Legality

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports that India has witnessed unprecedented numbers of missing children, despite the fact that
India became a signatory to the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child on December 11, 1992.7
On November 14, 2002, after hearing the Writ Petition (Crl) No 610, 1996 filed by Horilal versus the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and
Others, the Supreme Court issued a guideline for taking emergency and efficacious actions for the detection of missing women and children.8,9
Central to this guideline is the effectual search of missing and kidnapped children, conducted by the Investigation Officer, the gatekeeper of
the Indian criminal justice system in all states. Notwithstanding, the sheer brutalities of the 2006 serial Nithari killings bear witness to the fact
that the varied institutional and statutory bodies have failed to execute this guideline.10 One of the key failures of this guideline, however, is
that it fails to mention that the concerned authority must recognize and file a First Information Report for every reported missing child within
a stipulated time. Failure to do so is a cognizable offence (dereliction of duty).
In the wake of the Nithari killings, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was established in March 2007 under
the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. Among other things, the NCPCR, from both idealistic and pragmatic standpoints,
embraces the 2002 Apex Court guideline on missing women and children. Between June 2008 and February 2009, the NCPCR recommended
that all of the Deputy Generals and Inspector Generals of Police order instructions to their police force at all levels to enact the guideline.
In 2011, recognizing the escalating number of missing children (which stood at 90,654), 2014 Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyathi’s non-gov-
ernmental organization, Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA) or Save the Childhood Movement filed a Public Interest Litigation at the honorable
Apex Court.11 This Public Interest Litigation shows that between January 2008 and 2010, 0.17 million children went missing, 41,546 children
remained untraced, and First Information Reports were registered in 15,284 cases (Manral, 2013). In response, the honorable Apex Court
authorized the mandatory registration of First Information Reports for all missing children, including those who remained untraced. In addition,
this judgment decreed that the Police Service should prepare and maintain standard operating procedure in all states, alongside training and
appointment of Special Child Welfare officers.12 Importantly, it warrants the police to maintain the records of all traced children with pho-
tographs, and the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure documentation of such records. Most importantly, Chief Secretaries and Deputy Generals
of Police of the respective states would be liable for missing children and would even be summoned in states in which large numbers of chil-
dren go missing (Mahapatra, 2014). Nevertheless, the NCPCR (2013, p. 65) reported that approximately “170 million or 40% of India’s children
are vulnerable to or experiencing difficult circumstances,” and thereby, remain at very high risk of going missing.
There is no separate legislation on missing children, but the NCRB categorizes missing children under “crimes committed against children.”
Chapter XVI, Sections 299–377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) deal with offences affecting the human body.13 These are kidnapping and abduc-
tion (sections 363, 363A, 364,364A, 366),14 procuration of minor girls (section 366A), importation of girls from a foreign country (section 366-
B), and the selling and buying of minors for prostitution (sections 372 and 373, respectively).15 In addition, crimes against children under special
and local laws include the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994, Child Labour (Prohibition & Reg-
ulation) Act 1986, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956, Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act 2000, and the Protection of Chil-
dren from Sexual Offences Act 2012. More recently, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013, also known as the anti-rape Act, passed in
Parliament on April 2, 2013, following the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi in December 2012, incorporates trafficking as
a heinous offence (Bhattacharyya, 2013, 2015a, 2016a,c).16 Sections 370 and 370A of the IPC deal with trafficking. First, the term “exploitation”
used herein includes any form of physical or sexual exploitation encompassing practices of slavery, servitude, and forced removal of organs.
Second, as trafficking is a cognizable offence, the consent of the victim is immaterial in determining trafficking as an offence. Third, sections 370
and 370A outline that any individual (including government officials or police officers) involved in the trafficking of a minor or even an adult face
rigorous punishment ranging from seven to 10 to life terms of imprisonment, along with fines, depending on the nature and degree of the crime.
Yet sadly, despite a subset of legislation, the country continues to face a rise in the number of missing children.

2.2 | The Imbroglio: Missing Children and Trafficking

Evidence suggests that a child goes missing in India every 8 min (National Crime Records Bureau, 2011; Manral, 2013; Shah, 2012; Tiwary,
2014). The BBA reports that approximately 11 children go missing every hour, four of which remain forever untraced. On average, a staggering
100,000 children go missing every year (Tiwary, 2014). Between 2011 and June 2014, the number of India’s missing children stood at
0.325 million (Figure 1).
BHATTACHARYYA | 93

FIGURE 1 Missing Indian children, 2011–2014

The MHA reports that the worst performing states are Maharashtra with 50,000, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 24836, Delhi with
19,948, and Andhra Pradesh with 18,540 missing children. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these missing children (55%) are girls (Mamidi &
Mamidi, 2015; Tiwary, 2014; also, Bhattacharyya, 2015c). In Maharashtra, the number of missing girls compared to missing boys exceeds
10,000. In Andhra Pradesh, the figure is almost double, with 11,625 missing girls and 6,915 missing boys. Madhya Pradesh suffers 15,000 miss-
ing girls compared to 9,000 missing boys and Delhi with 10,581 missing girls versus 9,367 boys. These missing children are either kidnapped
or trafficked for illegal trade, domestic or bonded labor, or marriage (Ghosh, 2009, 2013, 2014; Mamidi & Mamidi, 2015; Prakash & Vadlaman-
nati, 2014; Sarkar, 2014; Sen & Nair, 2004; Varma, 2013). These observations corroborate with many previous research (Gattas et al., 2012;
rin, 2013; Joffres et al., 2008; Richardson et al., 2009).
Gue
Evidence further suggests that India’s northeast, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, mired in multi-dimensional poverty, insur-
gency, and recurring floods are breeding grounds for trafficking (Baruah, 2012; Bhattacharyya, 2016c; Chamberlain, 2014a,b; Kannan, 2014;
Laithangbam, 2014; Ray, 2014; Sahariah, 2015). Owing to its illegality, there are no comprehensive statistics, however, 10,500 children were
reported missing from Chattisgarh in between 2011 and 2013, while from Assam 9,500 children went missing in between 2007-June 2014, of
which only 3,840 were rescued (Bhattacharyya & Das, 2016; Sahariah, 2015).17 While trafficking for sexual exploitation has a long history, traf-
ficking for domestic enslavement represents a contemporary development (Bhattacharyya, 2016c; Bhattacharyya & Das, 2016; Chamberlain,
2008; Sahariah, 2015; Yardley, 2012). That is, minor girls and young women are trafficked either via surreptitious illegal trade and (or) fake
employment agencies and sold for a fixed price into affluent and middle class households to serve as domestic slaves or as bonded labor for
INR 5,000–6,000, in brothels for INR 105,000, and for forced marriage for INR 100,000 (Baruah, 2012; Bhattacharyya, 2016c; Bhattacharyya
& Das, 2016; Chamberlain, 2014a,b; Kannan, 2014; Laithangbam, 2014; Ray, 2014; Sahariah, 2015). Figure 2 illustrates how trafficking largely
operates in India.
In yet another shocking revelation, Dasra, an Indian non-governmental organization working in conjunction with the Hummingbird Trust,
United Kingdom (UK) and the Kamonohashi Project, Japan reveals that 40% of adolescent girls are trafficked into the sex industry, of which
15% are aged under 15 years (Masoodi, 2014a). The market for young girls is highly demanding in the sex industry because of the perception
that sex with young (virgin) girls bears less risk of HIV infection (Masoodi, 2014a). The selling of girls has emerged as a lucrative business
(Murty & Roy, 2015). Sex trafficking in India is a $9 billion industry annually (Bachan Bachao Andolan, 2012; Masoodi, 2014a). The BBA esti-
mates that on an average the annual revenue generated by a brothel in India ranges between INR 15–144 million (Masoodi, 2014a). Nobel Lau-
reate Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of the Global March Against Child Labour, laments that $360 billion is generated by coercing adolescent
girls and young women into bordellos and affluent homes, representing approximately a fifth of India’s gross domestic product. Satyarthi goes
on to say that “[t]his black money propels capital corruption and most heinous crimes against girls and women. The dream of development and
scandal of child slavery cannot co-exist”.18 On November 8, 2016, the Government of India (GOI) surprised the nation by making a ground-
breaking move to demonetize INR 500 and INR 1,000 denominations from the financial system as of midnight November 8, to tackle the fol-
lowing objectives: repress black money, curb the circulation of fake money, control terror financing, restrict corrupt practices, and control infla-
tion (Pulla, 2016). Only time will tell whether this prodigious effort to remove black money from the economy enables the reduction (or
eliminatation) of crimes committed against women and children (via trafficking, kidnapping, slavery, etc.).
94 | BHATTACHARYYA

Placement agencies 1. Affluent households:

Placement agency sell children to INR5,000–6,000
(often fake) affluent households, 2. Brothels: INR105,000
deals with traffickers brothels, as bonded 3. Forced marriage:
labor, etc. INR100,000

Children rarely receive

Traffickers paid Traffickers sell money from placement
INR15,000–20,000 children to placement agencies and can
for 3 girls per month agencies rarely send money
to their parents

Acutely poor parents

Children are either Employers benefit
receive a one-off
sold to or abducted from 24-hour services,
payment of
by traffickers 7 days per week
INR2,000–5,000

FIGURE 2 Child trafficking process

Apart from representing a source for missing and trafficked children, India is also a destination and transit country (Chamberlain, 2008; Jof-
fres et al., 2008; Masoodi, 2014a,b,c; Yardley, 2012).19,20 Lured by false promises of better lives and marriages, girls and young women from
neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are trafficked and sold into brothels in India. Varma (2013) argues that approxi-
mately 200,000 girls and young women from Nepal end up in Mumbai brothels (Gattas et al., 2012; Poudel, 2009; Richardson, Poudel, & Lau-
rie, 2009). Ostensibly, human trafficking is the third largest profit industry in the world (Varma, 2013; also, Bhattacharyya, 2014).21 Varma
(2013) reports that an estimated 200 young women are coerced into sexual services on daily basis (Bhattacharyya, 2014). In a familial context,
it is arguable that the problem of India’s asymmetrical sex ratio has paved the road for sex trafficking and “bride buying” (Bhattacharyya, 2014;
Masoodi, 2014a,b,c; Varma, 2013). The following section illustrates the intersection between missing women and “bride buying.”

2.3 | Missing Women and Bride Buying

As stated above, another facet fueling the sociologies of missing children is the dilemma created by missing women. Female feticide remains
pervasive (Anderson & Ray, 2012; Balan & Mahalingam, 2014; Hu & Schlosser, 2015; Jha et al., 2011; Sen, 1990, 1992, 2003). Although the
overall sex ratio of girls per 1,000 boys (Jha et al., 2011) has improved from 927:1,000 in 1991 to 933:1,000 in 2001 and 940:1,000 in 2011,
the child sex ratio (CSR, 0–6 years) dropped from 945 in 1991, to 927 in 2001, to a further 914 girls per 1,000 boys in 2011 (Figure 3).22
According to the 2011 Census, Haryana has the lowest child sex ratio (<900) in the country, with 830 girls per 1,000 boys, followed by
Punjab with 846 (Figure 3). Evidently, states with a low sex ratio practice bride buying (Masoodi, 2014b).

FIGURE 3 Sex ratio of total and child populations aged 0–6, 2001 and 2011
BHATTACHARYYA | 95

Notwithstanding, sex selective abortion has grown into an INR100 million industry (Varma, 2013; also Bhattacharyya, 2014). Despite the
Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PNDT) Act, 1994, introduced on January 1, 1996, a baby girl is
aborted every 12 s.23 Jha et al. (2011) argued that the rampant rise of sex-selective abortions arose from the deeply entrenched gender-biased
patriarchal mindsets reinforcing preferences for sons over daughters and the desire for a small family (Bhattacharyya, 2016e). Research has fur-
ther indicated that the practice of sex-selective abortion is more common in opulent and enlightened families, particularly in families in which
the first progeny is a girl (Bhattacharyya, 2016e; Jha et al., 2011). In his reality television show, Satyamev Jayate (Truth alone Prevails, Season
1, Episode 1: Daughters are precious),24 Bollywood star-cum-anchor Aamir Khan discussed the precarious state of India’s female children: the
rate at which an unborn girl child is killed is equivalent to 1,000,000 girls a year (Census of India, 2011).25 The 2012 World Bank report, Gen-
der Equality and Development, reports that 0.25 million girls go missing each year in India because of the embedded gender inequalities mani-
fested through pre-birth and post-birth discriminations.26 Reinforcing this idea, the Millennium Development Goals, India Country Report 2015
reports that both infant and under-five mortality rates for girls are higher when compared with boys (Bhattacharyya, 2016f).27
Arguably, the practice of bride buying stems from a shortage of girls or a “bride famine.” As a result of the gender gap, in 1991 there were
no brides available for 25 million men, which increased to 35 million in 2001 and again to 35.6 million in 2011 (Census of India, 1991, 2001,
2011; Varma, 2013; also; Anderson & Ray, 2012; Balan & Mahalingam, 2014; Jha et al., 2011; Sen, 1990, 1992, 2003).
Masoodi (2014b) reported that in the states such as Haryana and Punjab, young girls, cajoled with fake promises, are imported as “bought-
up” brides from remote poverty-scourged areas that bear a high sex ratio: Assam, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal (Varma,
2013) (Figure 3). In their study, conducted in approximately 10,000 households covering 92 villages of the Mahendragarh, Mewat, Karnal, Sirsa,
and Sonepat districts of Haryana, Drishti Stree Adhyayan Prabodhan Kendra, a non-governmental organization, reports that approximately 9,000
women are “bought-up” brides (Masoodi, 2014b; Varma, 2013). The practice of bride buying is now accepted as a normative practice in these
states, which is a worrying trend, wherein young girls are often coerced to marry older men, thereby, stimulating the market for illegal traffick-
ing and kidnapping of young girls (Masoodi, 2014b).28 In a slightly different context, a number of studies conducted on domestic violence
against married women report that when a wife is much younger than her husband she is at high risk of facing violent forms of abuse (Adhikari
& Tamang, 2010; Das, Alam, Bhattacharyya, & Parvin, 2015, 2016; Jayasuriya, Wijewardena, & Axemo, 2011; Kimuna & Djamba, 2008;
Sambisa, Angeles, Lance, Naved, & Thornton, 2011).
The trafficking of imported brides remains rife.29,30 In 2013, a total of 24,749 young women and children aged 15–30 were kidnapped and
sold into marriage across different states (National Crime Records Bureau; Masoodi, 2014b). Varma (2013) narrates the story of Kammo, the
daughter of a poor carpenter residing in a remote town near the Nepal border, who was eventually sold to a groom who originally hailed from
Punjab but settled in Himachal Pradesh. Immediately after marriage, Kammo became a victim of both domestic and sexual violence, forced to
kill her unborn Kamla (female fetus), and then coerced into prostitution (Bhattacharyya, 2014, 2016a). Kammo’s painstaking tale is replicated in
countless poor households across the country (Bhattacharyya, 2016a). It has been reported that trafficked girls are coerced to act as surrogates
and deliver babies for sale (Roy, 2015). Although further research needs to be conducted to validate such claims, it does raise ethical questions
regarding the medical practices that govern surrogacy.31
In recognition of the disproportionate CSR, in 2013 the Apex Court mandated all states and union territories to implement the PNDT Act.
Ensuring the power of the Act, inter alia, the Apex court ordered that all cases filed under the Act must be disposed of within 6 months. All
genetic clinics must maintain statutory records and forms and any unregistered centers are banned from buying ultrasonography machines.
Nevertheless, since 2007, a silent revolution has begun in the Piplantri village, Rajashthan. Each time a female child is born, 111 saplings are
planted – an eco-friendly revolution that embraces gender activism and the environment. Parents must nurture the saplings and their little girl
(s) simultaneously. By June 13, 2015, the village had planted 286,000 trees (Goswami, 2015; Singh, 2013). In addition, on January 22, 2015,
the GOI launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao program (Save girl child, educate girl child) to prevent sex-biased selective abortion, while ensur-
ing the education and protection of female children.32 This program was first launched in Panipat, Haryana and has been implemented in 100
selected districts suffering from abysmal CSR (Bhattacharyya, 2016e). Amitabh Bachchan, the United Nations Ambassador to this Beti Bachao
mission, has urged for equality between girls and boys by nurturing, educating, and treating them as equal.33 This is just the beginning, how-
ever, as the gravity of the situation of missing children may be greater than perceived. There is evidence to suggest that the reported statistics
constitute merely 10% of all missing children in India (Manral, 2013). While opening up potential debates on the notion of missing children, the
following section also addresses the gaps that require intervention.

3 | THE WAY FORWARD

This research has revealed the contested interconnections between the sociologies of India’s missing children. “Missing” has been used as a
way to understand and draw connections in a wide range of ways to indicate intentional missing to trafficking, kidnapping, missing women,
and bride buying. This article contributes new ways of thinking about and responding to the notion of “missing” and the evidence presented
herein could serve as a user guide for policy-makers and academicians interested in the plight of missing children.
96 | BHATTACHARYYA

3.1 | Redefining the Notion “Missing”

The existing MHA definition of missing children is problematic and calls for a redefinition. Currently, the phrase “missing children” is used as an
umbrella term to include all missing children under one category, although different legislations exist to tackle crimes committed against chil-
dren. With the replacement of the JJA, 2000 by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the definition of missing
needs to be far more nuanced, as different cases of missing children merit different responses, and thereby, warrant that the MHA enact a
national policy delimiting the different categories: kidnapping/abduction by strangers, kidnapping by family members, child trafficking, commer-
cial sexual exploitation, runaways, lost children, abandoned by families/relatives, missing women, and bride buying.

3.2 | Family Support

“As there are different spatialities of search/ing,” the track and rescue of missing children is a strenuous endeavor (Parr, Stevenson, & Wool-
nough, 2016, p. 9). Similar to the UK, there is no statutory support for families to bear the legal and financial impacts resulting from the search
(posters, leaflets, travel expenses, paying for legal advice) for a missing child in India (Holmes, 2008). We believe the GOI is responsible for
respecting the rights of the parents/families “living in limbo” and proffering them some sort of support (Holmes, 2008).

3.3 | Tracing Missing Children and Building Infrastructure

India has developed significant child protection practices using the slogan, the 3-Ps (prevention, protection, and prosecution), including the
development of a missing persons database (Mamidi & Mamidi, 2015). For instance, NCRB’s TALAASH (search) directory is broadly dedicated
to missing/kidnapped persons of all ages. However, Crime in India, a report published annually by NCRB does not incorporate TALAASH infor-
mation. Childline-1098, a 24-hr toll free tele-helpline launched in 1996 by the Childline India Foundation, works for child rights and protection,
with 543 partners operating in over 291 cities/districts across the country.34 In 2014–2015, the helpline received 4,509,230 calls from children
in distress and parents seeking help; 13,610 calls referred to missing children and 9,028 calls were from parents seeking to trace their children.
However, it is unclear from the website as to how many missing children have actually been rescued. In 2012, the Ministry of Women and
Child Development under its Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) and in conjunction with the JJA, 2000 guidelines and Model Rules,
2007 initiated the Trackchild portal (http://www.trackthemissingchild.gov.in/trackchild/index.php), a virtual data sharing space (including the
details of missing children and their photographs) with all its stakeholders: police stations, child welfare committees, childcare institutions, juve-
nile justice boards, state and district child protection units across the country, and, of course, citizens.35 However, a citizen’s role is limited, as
they are not allowed to upload information. The system communicates mostly among police stations and the aforementioned institutions.
In remote areas (including India’s northeast), infrastructure is direly lacking. Many police stations in these areas do not have computers. In sta-
tions that do have computers, internet connections are completely inadequate and the police are unable to make full use of the portal. They
often fail to upload data in time, which, in turn, delays and hinders the investigation process. Since the launch of the portal in January 2012, the
police stations of the eight northeastern states (extremely susceptible to the trafficking of minor children and young women), have only uploaded
1,427 files relating to missing children. Nevertheless, by April 2015, this portal had assisted in the rescue of 73,597 children across the country.
On June 2, 2015, the Ministry of Women and Child Development launched its second website, KhoyaPaya.gov.in (Lost and Found), where a
citizen can participate fully in uploading information about a missing child, report detection, or browse the database to retrieve information
about a lost child. Although Khoya Paya, a service that makes the timely reporting of missing children easier, is definitely a leap forward; aware-
ness of this portal needs to be generated via the media (tv, local and national newspapers, radio, social networking sites) and among the lower
classes of society whose children remain at high risk. At the same time, the child protection budget, which is lamentably low, needs to be
increased to strengthen program and policy development and provide required resources.36 As discussed above, there are a number of criminal
legislations to tackle the vicious rackets perpetrating the abhorrent practice. While stringent enforcement of legal protection remains impera-
tive, it is naive to assume that simply putting legislation in place will solve the problem. Everyday protection needs to come from within the
society (Bhattacharyya & Das, 2016). Therefore, it is equally important to focus on the multi-dimensional factors affecting extreme forms of
poverty, responsible both directly and indirectly for allowing trafficking, kidnapping, and other inhuman practices to proliferate.

4 | CONCLUSION

This research represents a modest effort to juxtapose insights into the highly under-researched notion of missing children in India. In so doing,
it has revealed not only how interconnected sociologies contribute to the phenomenon of missing children but has also made an attempt to
provide a nuanced understanding of the highly contested terrain of the “missing” notion. This research enables a deeper understanding of the
structural violence and exploitation entailed within the missing landscape and paves the way for further intensive research on missing children.
BHATTACHARYYA | 97

In addition, within the journal’s remit, this research serves as a window to open up wider intellectual debate, which should not remain
restricted to sociologists, but involve human geographers, social work scientists, and policy-makers to develop sustained, critical engagement
with existing missing children scholarship.

NOTES

1
Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as “the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud,
of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of
a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prosti-
tution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of
organs” UNODC on human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/
2
The JJA 2000 entails the protection, care, and treatment of children/juveniles (under 18 years) who are really in need. The JJA 2000 was re-enacted
in 2006 and 2011, and then further amended through the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Bill 2014, which was approved in the Lok Sabha (Bill
No. 99 of 2014) on May 7, 2015 and passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 22, 2015, replacing the JJA 2000. It came into force on January 15,
2016 as The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (No. 2 of 2016). Ministry of Law and Justice, The Gazette of India,
Retrieved December 12, 2016 from http://trackthemissingchild.gov.in/trackchild/readwrite/JJAct_2015.pdf (also see Agarwal & Kumar, 2016).
3
Advisory on missing children-measures needed to prevent trafficking and trace the children-regarding, F.NO.15011/60/2011
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Retrieved June 15, 2016 from http://www.icachd.org/Images/PDF/Advisory/missing_children.pdf
4
The Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme, redefined acute forms of
income poverty using the Alkire Foster method that incorporates three dimensions embracing 10 indicators, known as the multi-dimensional poverty
index (MPI). The three dimensions are education (years of schooling, school attendance), health (child mortality, nutrition), and living standards (elec-
tricity, cooking fuel, access to clean drinking water, improved sanitation, adequate flooring, asset ownership). A person or a household can be termed
multi-dimensionally poor if they remain disadvantaged by at least one third of the weighted indicators (Bhattacharyya & Vauquline, 2013; Bhat-
tacharyya, Vauquline, & Singh, 2011). The higher the MPI, the greater the poverty. According to the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initia-
tive Country Briefing June 2015, the MPI for India is 0.283 (urban 0.11, rural, 0.357); 16.4% of India’s population are vulnerable to poverty, 28.6%
live in severe poverty, and a staggering 28.5% are destitute. The inequality among the MPI poor is 0.234. OPHI (Oxford Poverty & Human Develop-
ment Initiative), Retrieved May 15, 2016 from http://www.ophi.org.uk/multidimensional-poverty-index/mpi-2015/mpi-country-briefings/
5
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (2013, p. 65) states that “100 million children. . . [aged] 15–18 years are illiterates, school
dropouts and have no skills to sustain themselves.”
6
However, because of the lack of available statistics, this research fails to make a subtle analysis of missing children on the specifics of caste, gender,
tribe, and region and how these social stratifications create social exclusion and poverty for marginalized communities and their children.
7
Chapter IV, Human Rights, United Nations Treaty Collection, 11. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Retrieved Januaray 8, 2017 from https://
treaties.un.org/PAGES/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&clang=_en
8
This day, the birthday of the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who dearly loved children, is celebrated as Children’s Day.
9
Guidelines for the search of missing children laid down by the Supreme Court, HORI LAL vs. Commissioner of Police, Delhi & Ors Respondents
(14.11.2002), Landmark Rulings of the Courts in India on Combatting Human Trafficking, National Legal Research Desk, Retrieved June 15, 2016
from http://nlrd.org/
10
Also known as the Noida serial murders or Nithari Kand, 2006. More than 30 children (17 of whom were young girls) were victims of child pornogra-
phy. These children went missing and were abused, sexually assaulted, and murdered in the Nithari area, a suburb of Delhi (see the archive of The
Indian Express for Full Coverage- Noida Killings, Journalism of Courage Archive, The Indian Express, Retrieved June 15, 2016 from http://archive.ind
ianexpress.com/fullcoverage/noida-killings/58/
11
Since 1980, the BBA has rescued 85,124 children from slavery, bonded labour, and trafficking. Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Retrieved December 16,
2016 from http://www.bba.org.in/ (also, Bhattacharyya, 2015b).
12
Supreme Court of India delivers a landmark judgement on missing children: Demands a status report in 3 months (2013, May 10). Bachpan Bachao
Andolan, Retrieved December 16, 2016 from http://www.bba.org.in/?q=content/supreme-court-india-delivers-landmark-judgement-missing-children
13
Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act No. 45 of Year 1860), Advocate Khoj, Retrieved May 15, 2016 from http://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/bareacts/
indianpenalcode/index.php?Title=Indian%20Penal%20Code,%201860
14
Section 363: punishment for kidnapping; 363A: injuring or abducting a minor for begging purposes; 364: abducting or kidnapping with a motive to
murder; 364A: abducting for ransom; and 366: abducting, kidnapping, or persuading a woman to compel her marriage. All of these sections entail rig-
orous punishment, including fines and imprisonment ranging from a term to a longer period, depending on the gravity of the crime.
15
Any person participating in the following are liable to fines and imprisonment, which may extend up to 10 years: the illicit persuasion, seduction, or
coercion of any minor under 18 years of age to intercourse; importing any girl under the age of 21 years from any foreign country (or even from
Jammu and Kashmir) and inducing her to illicit intercourse; selling or letting to hire for prostitution any minor under 18 years or even coercing to per-
form illegal intercourse outside the institution of marriage; and trying to buy or hire a minor under 18 years for the purpose of illegal intercourse or
prostitution.
16
The Ministry of Law and Justice, The Gazette of India. Retrieved on January 6, 2017 from: http://indiacode.nic.in/acts-in-pdf/132013.pdf
17
Child-tracing portal hit by poor infrastructure in northeast (October 13, 2014). India, Retrieved January 8, 2017 from http://www.india.com/news/ind
ia/child-tracing-portal-hit-by-poor-infrastructure-in-northeast-171113/
18
Economics Behind Forced Labour Trafficking-Comprehensive Case Studies of Child Domestic Labour and Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Global
March Against Child Labour, Retrieved June 15, 2016 from: http://www.globalmarch.org/sites/default/files/Economic-Behind-Forced-Labour-