Doomdooma: The rescue of an eight-year-old girl allegedly kidnapped from Mariani and traced to Dergaon on Wednesday, September 2, has raised fresh concerns over child safety in Assam, coming a day after police recovered three other children reported missing from the area.
According to Jorhat Police, the girl was allegedly abducted on the evening of September 1. A team led by the Child Development and Special Police (CDSP), Mariani, along with the officer-in-charge of Mariani Police Station, traced and rescued her from the Dergaon area on Wednesday.
The child was subsequently reunited with her parents.
The incident came a day after Mariani Police announced the recovery of three other children, aged six, seven and nine, who had reportedly gone missing on August 30. They were traced in Tinsukia on August 31 with the assistance of the Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force before being handed over to their respective guardians.
The consecutive incidents have raised fresh questions about the risks faced by children when travelling or moving without adequate supervision and protection.
Available official crime data also underscores the broader concern. The latest NCRB Crime in India report currently available is for 2023, with official figures for 2025 yet to be released.
Assam recorded 1,385 cases of crimes against children in 2014. The number climbed steadily to 6,608 in 2019. During the pandemic period, reported cases fell to 4,622 in 2020, before rising to 5,282 in 2021 and standing at 4,084 in 2022.
However, the figure saw a sharp surge in 2023, reaching 10,174 cases the highest recorded level in the available data.
The jump from 4,084 cases in 2022 to 10,174 in 2023 translates into an increase of nearly 149 per cent. Compared with 2014, the number of reported cases was around 634 per cent higher in 2023.
At the national level, kidnapping and abduction made up 45 per cent of all reported crimes against children in 2023, while offences registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act accounted for 38.2 per cent.
The NCRB recorded 79,884 cases of kidnapping and abduction involving children across India during the year. Of these, 14,637 cases involved minor girls who were allegedly abducted with the intention of forcing them into marriage.
While the data does not indicate that every form of crime against minor girls has followed a uniform upward trend, the sharp increase in reported offences against children in Assam highlights the scale of the concern. The recent recoveries in Mariani, occurring within consecutive days, have further brought the issue of child safety into focus.