As many as 939 girls had gone missing or kidnapped in Andhra Pradesh in 2017 as of June9. Director General of Police (DGP) Nanduri Sambasiva Rao said that 800 girls have been traced but the fate of rest 139 is yet to be known. Memos have been issued to officials who were negligent in investigating such cases. The figures collected from Jan1,2017 to June9,2017 for ‘minor girl missing’ cases are upsetting. Police conducted this study as after a minor girl from Guntur was freed from the clutches of BSF Jawan.

Anantapur district tops the list with 115 cases being reported of which 105 were traced. The high number is attributed to drought led poverty, illiteracy and migration. Due to drought, the families are migrating to Kerala and Bengaluru for employment, and are consequently leaving the minor girls with the grandparents. Tribal minor girls of Kadiri are prone to trafficking. Kalyanadurgam where child marriages are extremely prevalent, the minor girls are willfully fleeing.

Anantapur is followed by West Godavari and Vijaywada City which reported 89 and 85 cases respectively. Nellore reported least number of missing cases out 10 cases 9 were traced. Crime Investigation Department (CID) police are being asked to investigate such cases related to minor girls. Following are the stats of missing/kidnapped minor girls in 2017

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