Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, January 9
In a special drive launched in 2020-21, the Una police had traced 136 missing persons from the district. They included 63 men, 34 women and 39 children. Many of them had been missing for the past many years.
Sources here said that the special campaign, launched by the police to trace the missing persons, had brought up interesting trends.
Most of the missing adults or teenaged girls had eloped with their social media friends.
Many married women had also entered into friendships with men on social media and eloped with them. Recently, the police traced a married woman, who had left her husband and children and settled with her Facebook friend in Kathua of Jammu and Kashmir.
In case of men, the reasons behind elopement was psychological distress. Most missing men, who had been traced in different states, had stated that they left their families due to social, psychological or economic distress. In many cases, many men refused to return to their families.
In case of children, the police presumed that they were kidnapped, it had been found that many teenagers had eloped with their social media friends.
Despite the special drive, the police were yet to trace 98 persons.
Superintendent of Police, Una, Arjit Sen said before 2020, there were more than 200 missing persons. Through a special drive, they had managed to bring down the figures.
He said the team used cyber tracking besides other methods to trace them. In case of adults, the task of the team was to find the people and connect them to their families. Since they were adults and had left on their own, the police could not bring them back against their wishes. However, in case of children, they were brought back and handed over to the families, he said.
Eloped with social media friends
- Most of the missing adults or teenaged girls had eloped with their social media friends
- Many married women had also entered into friendships with men on social media
- In case of men, the reason behind the elopement was psychological distress
- Most missing men had stated that they left their families due to social, psychological or economic distress
- In many cases, many men refused to return to their families
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