LAHORE: ‘Harsh behaviour’ of parents is one of the leading factors which forces children to run away from home and many of them later fall in the company of criminals, says a police report.

The report has been prepared in the wake of some recent incidents in Lahore and submitted to the higher authorities.

The contents of the report, which has been shared with Dawn, say 550 children had been kidnapped or gone missing during 2015. Some 41.3pc left home due to harsh behaviour of the parents, 21.9pc were lost and found, 6.1pc were abducted by their relatives and 5.1pc children fled owing to family disputes.

The report further says 3.4pc children ran away due to duress and beating at seminaries and a very low ratio of them - 1.3pc kids - was abducted for sexual abuse. It says out of the total, 63pc cases registered on the charges of kidnapping of minors under section 363 of PPC had to be cancelled after investigation found the allegations false.

The report says it was also observed that children, eight to 17 years, often leave home on their own due to domestic/economic/family problems.

It is worth mentioning here that the ransom call was never received in any of these cases, the police report claims. “It can be safely concluded that this is largely a social issue pertaining to street children,” it says.

About the age-wise analysis, the report says a large number of 11- to 15-year children were in the missing cases followed by the children between 6 to 10 years. Out of the total kids, 44pc missing/kidnapped children were from the age group of 11 to 15 and 34pc from 6 to 10, it says.

In respect of gender, it says 66pc missing/kidnapped children were boys and 34pc girls.

Data Darbar, Railway Station, Minar-i-Pakistan and Badami Bagh/Lorry Adda were the hot spots where maximum cases of the missing/abducted kids were reported.

This comprehensive report was prepared after abduction/missing of four children from the Badami Bagh police station during a period of three weeks, sending a wave of panic among people. The children hailed from poor families and police registered cases against unknown kidnappers. Of them, shockingly, the body of eight-year-old Umair was found in an open drain of Gunjbaksh. He was the son of Mohammad Shafiq.

The other children including Sameer, 12, and two-year-old Daim are still missing and the parents are looking up to police to ensure their recovery.

According to police investigation, the kidnapper(s) killed Umair, packed his body in a sack and dumped it in the drain to conceal the crime. It said the boy was sexually assaulted and killed by criminal(s) who were yet to be traced.

SSP Investigation Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera told Dawn that police had sent DNA samples of over 20 suspects in the wake of gruesome murder of Umair. Shortly after recovery of the body of Umair, he said, police took into custody nearly 50 suspects in and around the area where the family resides. He said most ‘arrests’ were made after this particular incident.

The SSP said geo-fencing facility was also being availed to trace the killer(s) of the innocent kid.

“This category of heinous crime largely relates to social disorder since most families belong to the marginalised segment of society,” Mr Sukhera commented. He said most children leave homes and disappear owing to domestic and social issues and many of them later fall in the company of criminals as soft target.

He said the parents, other family members and relatives of such children could play a better role in eliminating crime.

The police department admits that the number of missing/kidnapped children increased manifold in 2016. According to statistics, a total of 342 children had been either kidnapped or gone missing in the provincial capital in 2015. Of them, 318 were recovered while 24 were yet to be traced till mid 2016. During the first six months of the current year, a total of 208 kids have been kidnapped or gone missing, showing an upward trend. As many as 19 children have not been recovered so far.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2016