Week later, 3 minor girls missing from Jharkhand shelter homes still traceless

Three minor girls, who went missing from two shelter homes in Khunti and Ranchi, are untraceable despite a week-long search operation, police said.

Two minor girls went missing from Khunti-based Sahyog village on August 5 night while one fled from Nari Niketan ‘Snehashraya’ in Kanke, Ranchi, on Tuesday. A team comprising four members of Child Line and Sahyog village, which had been to Kolkata since Thursday to trace the Khunti girls, returned empty handed, officials said.

Khunti district child protection officer (DCPO), Altaf Khan, who is investigating the case, said the team returned Sunday after it failed to trace the girls. “However, the government railway police and railway Child Line have been informed about the girls and their photographs were shared with them,” Khan said.

One of the two girls who went missing from Khunti had called up the shelter home superintendent last Wednesday to inform that they were in Howrah and would return to the shelter home.

However, the girls neither returned nor made any calls thereafter, officials said.

The DCPO said, “We have collected CCTV footage from the shelter home. The footage shows the girls scaling the boundary wall around 11pm on August 5.” He said two other girls had helped them escape but they denied when questioned by the officials.

Khan said, “I also talked to the passenger who had helped the girls to make the call to the shelter superintendent. He said the girls had requested for his mobile phone at Howrah station to call the superintendent.”

“We hope the girls are still in Howrah and they would be traced soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, another minor girl, who fled from Nari Niketan ‘Snehashraya’ in Kanke, Ranchi, last Tuesday, is also untraceable. The shelter home is run by Ranchi district social welfare department. Ranchi district social welfare officer Kanchan Singh said, “Police is investigating the case but the girl is still missing.”

Jharkhand state commission for protection of child rights (JSCPCR) chairperson Aarti Kujur said, “I will request commissions of other states to help us locate the girls in their respective states and share information if they get any.”

The JSCPCR teams visited both the homes and found security lapses. JSCPCR chairperson said, “There was no CCTV camera and the home did not have the adequate number of employees.”

First Published: Aug 12, 2018 23:51 IST