Guwahati: The Assam Police has launched a massive search operation in order to trace a 17-year-old girl from the Narengi area here who was reported missing by her family since September 15.
Police informed that the 17-year-old girl is identified as Sangeeta Dey who hails from Kamala Bagan are and is a Class XI student of Guwahati College.
The family of the missing girl informed police that she went out from her Kamala Bagan residence on the morning of September 15 to visit her “friend’s place” but did not return.
When the family saw that she is unusually late than her usual time to reach home, it prompted her family to file an FIR at Noonmati police station on September 16.
Swapan Dey, the girl’s father told media that from the call records of her mobile phone (which was in the house), the investigating officer has a suspect a man named Suraj Das who stayed in a rented house in the area to have taken her to his native place in Bihar. She is believed to have known this man for some time.”
Noonmati police, however, have been in touch with police in Bihar over the past week.
Speaking to the media, the officer-in-charge of the Noonmati Police Station, CN Bora, said that the department is leaving no stone unturned to trace the girl after the FIR was lodged.
Since the FIR was lodged, an immediate alert has been sounded to all officers and information to the police stations through all possible means have also been forwarded.
The police further informed that they are in regular touch with the suspect’s maternal uncle, however, the whereabouts of both of them are yet to be known.
It may be mentioned that, contrary to the degree of awareness being broadened across the state, numbers of cases registered under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 has been increasing in Assam. Moreover, despite the expansion of police outposts, strengthening of police personnel, emergence of the cyber cell and increased network of intelligence in the State, the trend of trafficking of women has not come to an end.
As such, the number of women has perpetually distanced from their children, husbands and other relatives while some minor girls have lost their parents, brothers, and sisters. On the other hand, those rescued by police suffered trauma recalling the nightmare they went through after falling prey to the trafficker.
According to a report accessed from the Assam Police, the year-wise number of cases registered against the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 were, 18 in 2013, 29 in 2014, 47 in 2015, 65 in 2016, 79 in 2017 while there were 15 cases (till April) in 2018.
This report clearly shows how the trend is witnessing a sharp rise every year. It indicates to us the vulnerability that has been prevailing in front of us.
Notably, how many women victims were rescued from the hands of the chained traffickers over these six years is another issue. However, what is more, troublesome is the fact that even after the rescue, a woman normally faces social alienation as well as discrimination in her own locality. During such a period, a proper institutional guidance and counseling play a pivotal role to rehabilitate her mentally and physically which however is lacking in the state.
At a time when the social crisis like unemployment has been widely spreading across the state irrespective of rural and urban, miscreants involved with trafficking easily induce young and adult women with a fake promise to offer a better job outside the state. As such, thousands fall into the trap.