New Delhi: Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) Thursday urged the Centre to take steps to stop the theft of children and false rumours about abduction of children on social media resulting in lynching
by mobs.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Mahtab said, “Child snatching rumours are creating panic and are leading to incidents of mob lynching. The government should take steps to not only address the issue of missing children but also mob lynching of people wrongly suspected to be child snatchers as these two issues are interconnected.”
Citing the 2016 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Mahtab drew the attention of the House to the gravity of child trafficking.
“The NCRB in its last statistical report for 2016 had reported that 1,11,569 children went missing that year across the country. The NCRB reported that half of such missing children have been traced while the rest are presumed to be abducted and remained untraced at the end of the year.”
He added, “Not necessarily all these children were abducted but there is no doubt that most of these children were abducted, with bias towards girls. Two thirds of the missing children were females which points towards sexual exploitation.”
The BJD Parliamentary Party leader in the Lok Sabha said that there is a genuine fear of child snatchers in rural areas particularly tribal areas and this crime is considered more heinous in human minds.
“As a result any rumour of child snatchers in an area makes mobs to gather than rumours
of any other criminal activity,” he said.
Mahtab also sought steps to prevent false rumours on social media. “I urge the government to check false rumours on social media. It is necessary to rapidly prosecute those found guilty of child trafficking and the people are assured about the safety of their children particularly in remote areas,” he added.
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