Two of every three missing children remain untraced: Report

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) As many as 84 out of every 100 missing children have remained untraced during the last three years, according to home ministry data, while the total number of untraced children in 2015 was 62,988 as against 34,244 in 2013.

Delhi and Maharashtra remain the top two states with maximum number of untraced children. As of 2015, 9,001 remain untraced in the national capital while 9,414 children have not been found in Maharashtra.

Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana follow suit with increasing percentage of untraced children. Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have witnessed around 60 percent growth in the number of untraced children in the last three years.

NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) has collated the data on missing children in India from 2013 to 2015, released by the home ministry.

The missing children are often led to be a part of organised crime, illegal child labour and trafficking.

"There needs to be a differential structure of investigation to track these children. The major reason why children are trafficked from West Bengal, for instance is very different from, say the national capital,” said Komal Ganotra of CRY.

"A robust investigation mechanism with inter-state and inter-departmental coordination remains imperative. A comprehensive data base of children is yet to see the light of the day,” she added.