KATHMANDU, MARCH 19As many as 7,394 were reported missing during the fiscal 2020-21, with the whereabouts of many of them still remaining unknown. Brigade of Gurkhas submit annual report to President Bhandari Putin waves nuclear sword in confrontation with the West According to the annual report 2020-21 recently published by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the number of persons reported missing last fiscal dropped by 31.01 per cent compared to 2019-20. Of 7,394 missing persons, males were 3,949, females 1,816, minor boys 356, minor girls 1,236, male senior citizens 16 and female senior citizens 21.The report said that 3,038 out of those missing were traced and reunited with the families concerned.

Those traced and reunited with the families included males 668, females 1,403, minor boys 316, minor girls 633, and nine each male and female senior citizens.

All the missing complaints were reported to the nearest police stations throughout the country.

Despite complaints with police, rigorous search by grieving families and broadcast and publication of information about missing persons, whereabouts of 4,356 still remain unknown.The Nepal Police initiates search and rescue operation on the basis of official documents, name, sex, physical description and distinguishing feature and photograph of the missing victims by circulating information to all police units throughout the country.

A senior police official attributes the higher number of untraced persons to the tendency of the complainants going out of contact once the 'missing complaint' is lodged.

Many of the families who lodge complaint with the police do not communicate with the law enforcement agency even after the missing persons turn up at home on their own accord, or are found.According to police, the search never ends, but some cases of missing can also be linked to human trafficking, murder, unclaimed death, or people leaving home to pursue a career of their own choice.

On average, one person found dead elsewhere in the country a day is never identified.

A report by the National Human Rights Commission has stated that the high number of untraced missing persons suggests a possible linkage between trafficking and the 'missing children phenomenon'.The illegal extraction of human organs and trafficking of persons for kidney removal also cannot be ruled out behind the cases which remain unknown for years.

Nepal Police does not have adequate resources and trained staff to establish what has happened to those who remain missing, said the constitutional rights watchdog.A version of this article appears in the print on March 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times .

This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com