A nine-month-old girl went missing at Gopalapatnam railway station, in Vizag, a week ago. The police investigation is still underway. After this incident, members of the Child Rights Protection Forum (CRPF) suspected that the infant was abducted and the kidnappers had either sold the baby or put her into child begging on the roads.
According to the police, the missing girl is a resident of Gopalapatnam, where her father works as a migrant worker. The parents have three girl children, among which the missing one was the youngest.
Vizag Police have checked the CCTV cameras at the railway station but couldn’t get a clue of either the missing girl or any suspected culprits. Speaking to Yo! Vizag, CRPF AP unit convener, G Sitaram, said, “there have been incidents of kidnapping seen in the city. We suspect that a gang of kidnappers has abducted the infant. There has been no trace of the child found in CCTV.”
Mr. Sita Ram has submitted a letter to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami, on taking immediate action in this regard. According to Mr. Sitaram, there has been a decline in cases of kidnapping children putting them into child begging. However, this new incident has raised concerns about child safety in the city.
It may be recalled that the city had become a hotspot for child begging a few years ago. However after regular checks, conducted by the Department of Women and Child Welfare, these child begging cases have come down. Nowadays, the city witnesses very few children begging at major junctions in the city. However, there are still missing in the city, trapped by their abductors, and being put up for child begging.
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