Friday, March 4 2005 11:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: With an average of three kidnappings per day in Andhra Pradesh and one each in Punjab and Bihar, the States are literally being held to ransom, leaving the police grappling in the dark.

In Jammu and Kashmir, extortion is the favourite pastime of militants. The recent cases of school children being kidnapped notwithstanding, abductions continue to worry authorities in most States. In 2002, the National Crime Records Bureau had reported a decrease in kidnapping cases by nearly 3.4 per cent. But then, there has again been a steady increase, figures available with State police show.

Though businessmen, traders and their children have been the main target, young girls and women too have not been left behind. In some cases, even kidnappings of children of migrant labour have been reported. While ransom is the prime motive for such kidnappings, a few cases of abduction due to enmity were also reported.

"Abductions and other crime are not new to Bihar, or for that matter many other States. But a spurt in kidnappings, as well as the allegations that the Government was providing protection to criminals involved in the crime, has definitely tarnished the image of the State," says Joginder Singh, former director, CBI.

However, faced with severe criticism, many State Governments are charting special programmes to deal with the crime. In Bihar, a Special Task Force (STF) has been formed after the recent space of kidnappings targeting the school children.

"The superintendents of police of all the districts have been instructed to identify the kidnapper gangs and deal sternly with them," says A K Upadhyay, DIG (Anti-Dacoity Cell), Bihar Police.

The police would also move the concerned courts to seek cancellation of bails of criminals having a history of indulging in abductions, Upadhyay says.

However, Singh says, "Kidnapping for ransom is Bihar's biggest and only industry. Between 1992 and 2001, local police recorded 4,338 cases of kidnapping but some State officials admit that the real figure might be 10 times higher than that."

Police officials in Kolkata say that they too have stepped up vigil and are telling parents to be on alert because of recent kidnappings in neighbouring Bihar.

Police sources in Madhya Pradesh say that they have stepped up vigil in vulnerable areas including the dacoity-hit Chambal valley. Kidnappings did come down marginally in Madhya Pradesh last year (2004) - from 957 in 2003 to 903 last year primarily due to the massive hunt launched by the State police against the dreaded Rambabu Gadaria gang in the Chambal belt.

In Delhi, though there has been no incidence of kidnappings recently, the police has launched "Policing Plus", a community policing initiative to make people alert on the security aspect, says Deependra Pathak, DCP, Delhi Police.

The people have to realise that security is a foremost need, says Pathak adding that the drive involves servant verifications, safety of senior citizens and an area-policing plan.

"We are also interacting with students and schools on the aspect of safety of children and how they should be on alert. Precautions are important," he says.

"Kidnapping is an organised crime and to tackle it, besides good police networking, there is also need for making stringent laws which can deter the criminals," says Dr Shubra Sanyal, a psychologist with Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences at New Delhi.

Dr Sanyal, who has published a study on "Trafficking of Women and Children in South East Asia", says that organised gangs are involved in it as it is a very lucrative business for them.

"The people who kidnap are just hired for the job. The actual leader is sitting somewhere else, running the whole issue and it is he the police should aim at," says Dr Sanyal.

"A number of cases of girls going missing from slums go unreported, children of migrant labour are kidnapped in large numbers. The young girls too are pushed into the flesh trade."

"The trafficking starts from Thailand, goes on to Nepal and Bangladesh, and India is a transit point," she says, noting to check this crime, there is need for coordination between our police agencies and Interpol.

Reports from Andhra Pradesh, where 1014 cases of kidnappings and abduction were reported last year, show that in some cases minor girls were abducted for begging and slavery while women of middle age were abducted and forced into prostitution.