876 people missing but police are clueless

AHMEDABAD: Asha Patel (36), a resident of Vastrapur, had left her husband's home at 2.30pm on February 17, 2013. She took her two children Hetvi (6) and Dhruv (3). Two years have gone by but they are still to be traced.
Likewise, Rahul Prajapati (20), a resident of Kathwada Road, has been reported missing with Naroda police since April 2, 2012. What all clue Prajapati left behind was note-seeking forgiveness and mentioning that he could not live any longer.Neither there has been any trace of Rahul from last thrqee years nor city police have recovered his body.
These are just two cases. There are 876 persons who are yet to be traced by the city police who have gone missing. Sanjay Joshi, founder of Search My Child, recently got this data from the city police of the persons reported missing from various police stations between January 2010 and August 2014. The data reveals a wide-range of age from 1.5-year-old toddler to 90-year-old senior citizen and cuts across slums of Amraiwadi to posh area of Satellite.
"While number of women is higher in the missing persons' list, we want to draw attention to kids and senior citizens who are above 70 years of age," Sanjay Joshi. "Compared to other crimes, report of missing persons are not taken up on priority. We started working with the missing children but realized that the overall number of missing persons is also high. While number of women is higher in the missing persons' list, we want to bring focus on the issue of kids who are very small and senior citizens who are above 70 years of age," Sanjay Joshi.Ahmedabad: Asha Patel (36), a resident of Vastrapur, had left her husband's home at 2.30pm on February 17, 2013. She took her two children Hetvi (6) and Dhruv (3). Two years have gone by but they are still to be traced.
Likewise, Rahul Prajapati (20), a resident of Kathwada Road, has been reported missing with Naroda police since April 2, 2012. What all clue Prajapati left behind was note-seeking forgiveness and mentioning that he could not live any longer. Neither there has been any trace of Rahul from last three years nor city police have recovered his body.
These are just two cases. There are 876 persons who are yet to be traced by the city police who have gone missing. Sanjay Joshi, founder of Search My Child, recently got this data from the city police of the persons reported missing from various police stations between January 2010 and August 2014. The data reveals a wide-range of age from 1.5-year-old toddler to 90-year-old senior citizen and cuts across slums of Amraiwadi to posh area of Satellite.
The statistics further reveals that in most cases the persons left without any communication. While in some cases the disappearance is attributed to unstable mind, in a few cases it was disappearance from the place of work, visiting someone or simply telling others that they were going out.
City police officials said that nearly 50% of the cases of missing persons are related to girls and women. "Many a time, they elope after which parents register missing person's report. It is during the drives to track the missing persons that we get to know that the families have got the whereabouts but had not informed police," said an official.
Search without photographs?
A social worker had filed an RTI with the Sabarmati police station in July this year seeking information on missing persons. As per the information given by the Sabarmati police, between July 2008 and July 2014, 579 persons were reported missing out of which the number of children (0 to 14) was 76. Police stated that they don't have photographs of all the missing persons. They try to get it after registration of the complaint if it is not available at the time of reporting. Police also told the applicant that they maintain a log of missing persons on their website and have a police sub-inspector appointed as child welfare officer. The activists pointed to the futile cases where police doesn't have a photograph to start search with. They have also written to state CID (crime) to initiate installation of CCTV at Sabarmati and other railway stations that could have been used by traffickers, if any.
Top 10 police station areas with missing persons
Police stationNumber of persons missing
Naroda81
Vatva72
Odhav69
Vejalpur36
Amraiwadi34
Shaherkotda32
Sardarnagar31
Ranip30
Shahibaug29
Ellisbridge28
Total876
The number indicates missing persons that have not been traced between January 2010 and August 2014