Three girls, aged 10, 12 and 13, who went missing from a school in Noida’s Sector 51 on Monday were traced in Aligarh a day later after a local resident alerted police on noticing them wandering around, officers said on Tuesday.
Event Context
“All three girls had earlier been rescued from conflict-ridden homes and placed in shelter homes before being shifted to Noida,” said Ram Prasad Sharma, station house officer, Sector 49.
Team Analysis
Police registered a case under Section 137(2) (kidnapping) of the BNS and Section 75 of Juvenile Justice Act against two helpers and formed multiple teams to trace the girls after they went missing. But the investigation later found that the girls had left the school on their own. Police clarified that they are also looking into possible lapses on the school’s part.
On Tuesday evening, Noida police received information from Khair police station in Aligarh that the girls had been found. “A local resident noticed the girls behaving suspiciously and informed the police, following which they were rescued,” an officer associated with the investigation said.
The girls were brought back to Noida and counselled. During counselling, police found that they did not want to stay at the shelter home and wanted to return to their distant relatives.
Match Outlook
The girls, who had recently been shifted from children’s homes in Aligarh, Ghaziabad and Amroha to a shelter home in Noida’s Sector 62, had gone to the school in Sector 51 with a helper on Monday. When they could not be found after classes, the helper informed the school authorities, who alerted the police after a brief search.
CCTV footage from bus stands and other public places was scanned to reconstruct their movements.
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According to the investigation, the escape was planned by the youngest of the three girls. Police said the girls walked to Pari Chowk and boarded a bus from there. With no money to continue the journey, they got off at Khair, where their behaviour drew the attention of local residents, who informed the police.
After counselling, the girls were shifted to a one-stop centre in Noida. Childline will decide their placement, while the police are also investigating possible lapses in the school’s security, Sharma said.
