KATHMANDU: With 34,400 persons’ whereabouts still unknown, the cases of ‘disappearance,’ mostly women and children, are becoming more common these days.
Karuna Karki, 21, of Morang is missing since June 29. The grieved family is in a haunt for months with no positive news so far. Pleading for help, they have knocked the doors of all possible people and authorities, but in vain.
The whereabouts of Mukesh Chaudhary, 13, of Inaruwa, Sunsari is still unknown. The desperate family members have repeatedly approached the police and even to the relatives, beseeching help in the search. However, their search has not borne any result yet.
Parvati Baral of Bardiya is missing since July 20. Despite the family’s appeal to the designated authorities and the relatives, they are still unable to get details about their status.
The cases of Kurana, Mukesh and Parvati are merely representative cases. A total of 34,400 more people have gone disappeared in the last three years.
The detailed list of it is in display in the website of Nepal Police. Why and how people go missing has been a big headache for the police authority.
Bishwo Raj Pokharel, a DIG at Nepal Police remarks that the issues of people getting lost have gone chronic.
“Women and children are more on the list. Although few of them are found, whereabouts of most of them are unknown.” DIG Pokharel told Khabarhub.
“We are working on it,” Pokharel added.
34,400 have gone missing
According to the statistics at the Nepal Police Headquarters, 45,423 people have disappeared in last 3 years. This is as per the complaints recorded in the police record. The police estimate the real number can go higher.
The police records show that 11,023 are found back. 34,400 people are still missing; this is the fact of only 3 years.
Women and children excel all
According to the statistics, women and children are more than other groups in the missing category.
Among 7279 people who went lost in FY 2073/74, only 1613 were found.
The number increased in FY 2074/75. Among 8,277 children lost in that year only 1,819 were found back. Last year the number of missing children became 11153 whereas only 3307 were found back.
Not only the children, the number of missing women is high as well. Among the 3,327 women who got lost, only 739 were found in FY 2073/74.
Similarly, in FY 2074/75, a total of 4,261 women were lost while only 805 came back to contact.
The number of missing women increased to 5,852 in 2075/76, the police records show. The same records mention the number of found women as 1,505 that year.
Thus, according to the police statistics, 19,970 children, 11,121 women, and 4064 men got lost in the last three years.
Where do the missing people go?
Surprisingly, there are many people who left their homes due to various ambitions and did not come back to family contact afterward.
Many of them fall victim in the hands of the traffickers and get lost forever. Others leave their houses led by the financial temptations from the traffickers.
The whereabouts and the status of the missing people is still a mystery, as the records mum in this regard.
It is strange that in such a serious issue of ‘disappearance’ of such a large number, the government seems busy working on formalities as no measures are taken effectively to curb the issue.
Nepal Police, the authority involved in research claims the problem going chronic.
Puskar Karki, AIGP and the head of the Crime Investigation Department of Police confesses the number seems alarmingly high. However, he says that not all of them are lost forever.
“Some of them work in disguise in the restaurant, dance bar, night club and earn their living even as domestic workers.” Says AIGP Karki. He holds the lack of database responsible for the big number and adds, “Lack of database prevents us from telling where they actually are and many of them are voluntarily out of contact from the family members as well.”
Despite it as many of the missing have fallen victim of the kidney and other organ racketeers the police have to work more substantively. “We have found that many of them are involved in sex trade forcefully.” Karki added.
Mohana Ansari, a commissioner at the National Human Rights Commission opines it is high time for everyone to be more serious as well as an alert in issues like the disappearance of people.
“The number of disappeared people is alarming,” commissioner Ansari added while speaking to Khabarhub, “many of them are found trafficked for the sex trade or even for extraction of organs against their will.” Ansari reiterates the need to take the issue seriously and act together to curb ‘heinous acts’ against such people.
Debendra Subedi, former DIGP regards the issues related to ‘missing’ people as serious and challenging.
“It is serious that the number of missing people is increasing every year and worse still is the fact that their whereabouts are unknown,” Subedi remarked speaking to Khabarhub.
Like Ansari, Subedi also expects apt measures from the concerned authority.
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