Over 3,500 children missing in UP since '06

With the Nithari case agitating the public, the Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday informed the Allahabad High Court that more than 3,500 children had been reported missing from across the state last year out of whom 83 died or were killed while 712 were still untraceable.

The figures, revealed in an affidavit filed on behalf of the director general of police headquarters before a division bench of Justice Amar Saran and Justice R N Mishra, show that 143 children, including 49 girls, were reported missing from Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) and of them ten died or were killed while 28 others were still untraceable.

The bench, which was hearing a writ petition filed by one Vishnu Dayal Sharma of Agra, whose teenaged son has been missing for more than a year, had sought details from the state government on complaints of missing children of various age groups across the state.

Fixing February 12 as the next date of hearing, the court also asked the Assistant Solicitor General of India to seek instructions from the Central government, as there was a possibility of many of the children having been taken to other states.