Skip to content Skip to navigation

Kidnappings and Extortion in Assam: The numbers are staggering

The recent spurt in crime and violence in the state is a danger signal and needs to be curbed with immediate effect. There is an alarming rate of dacoities where single elderly people have been targeted resulting in their death in many cases. Kidnappings are on the rise with murdered FCI official P C Ram, Cement Corporation of India’s mining engineer KN Jha who died of cardiac arrest while in captivity and junior engineer with PWD Ajay Deka being the newest victims. The statistics of abductions in the state in the year 2006 are staggering where a total of 303 adult males and 460 adult females were abducted of which 274 males and 384 females were recovered. Moreover there were a number of children kidnapped in the same year. About 365 male children and 690 female children were kidnapped out of which 337 male children and 648 female children were recovered. Out of theses staggering numbers there are others figures which do not find place in the police records as most of these cases are never reported.

Most female children as well as adults are in many cases pushed into the flesh trade sometimes by force or sometimes by luring them with better options of survival. A study conducted by the Global Organisation for Life Development, an NGO, in co ordination wit the Guwahati police has revealed that a startling 14 percent of those involved in prostitution are children aged between 10 and 17. Child prostitution is a direct outcome of poverty where many children are initiated into the trade by acquaintances or relatives and sadly in some cases even their own parents have played roles of their children’s pimps. Extortion has become a convenient source of pocketing some fast bucks which is luring the youth in hoards. The police are unable to contain this menace owing to manpower shortage and public apathy. The public should arise from their complacency and voice their opinions against such lawlessness. Political parties should take constructive steps by working with the government and bring the culprits to book instead of lambasting the government at every given opportunity. For demanding a change in governance is not the solution to every problem in the state but proper planning towards eradication of such evils and implementation of these plans will only solve these problems. If timely action is not taken these evils will take roots in our society and turn it into total anarchy.

Comments

jay's picture

Courageous article, needs implementation at grass root level.

Pages

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Subba to contest independently

8 Mar 2014 - 2:27pm | AT News
Former MP Manikumar Subba will contest the Lok Sabha from Tezpur in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. But this time he will be an independent candidate.He decided to contest independently after the party...

Warning on tobacco packs

24 Mar 2015 - 7:54pm | AT News
38,740 signatures of people across the country including Assam, who strongly support the implementation of new and larger health warnings on tobacco packages in India on April 1, has been submitted...

AAMSU stages dharna in Kokrajhar

7 Feb 2017 - 4:31pm | AT News
The All Assam Minorities Students Union(AAMSU) termed that BJP led alliance government totally failed while fulfilling peoples’ aspectation and aspiration in the state.The students union stages two-...

Raha toll gate shuts down for 24 hours

22 Jul 2018 - 9:19pm | Pankaj Sharma
The controversial Raha Toll Gate at Raha in Nagaon district has been shut down temporarily for 24 hours by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) after Nagaon district administration notified...

Other Contents by Author

They say “health is wealth” but in Assam “ill health means drain of wealth”. The people of Assam seem to have lost their faith in the medical facilities and treatment provided in Assam. The commercialization of the medical profession has totally disillusioned the common public. Minor ailments require a plethora of health check ups the cost of which burns a hole in the pockets of poor patients. However, the ones who can afford prefer to go outside the state for treatments without taking the chances of wrong diagnosis or pricy hospital bills. The government hospitals are the last resorts of suffering patients who brave the unhygienic, rat infested, garbage heaped...
The world is coming to Guwahati this November to take part in the International tea festival that will be held on November 22 at the Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor stadium at Sasusajai. The three day festival will be a platform for the tea brewers of the world to show case the quality of their “two leaves and a bud” and the festival will also provide an opportunity for Assam to give a boost to its tea industry which is going through a rough period.As many as 400 delegates from all corners of the world would be taking part in the festival. The participating countries are Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, Pakistan, Egypt, Kenya and Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia. Apart from a few...
Life came to a standstill in Pakistan with the declaration of Emergency by self styled Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. His actions reeked more of him being an army chief rather than a president of Pakistan. He cited the growing instances of Islamic militant violence and “constant” judicial interference as the reasons behind his clamping emergency and sacking of Ifthikar Choudhary, the Supreme Court chief justice which incidentally came in the wake of the crucial apex court ruling on the legality of his election. The declaration of emergency has resulted in the suspension of all constitutional rights, all independent news media were gagged, telephone services were cut off...
The metamorphosis of the legendary Assam Medical College AMC) from an aged and dilapidated structure into a refreshingly beautiful centre of excellence is remarkable.It turned 107 years old on November 2, 2007 but officially birthday of AMC is on the 3rd of November.Late Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, the then premier of Assam had inaugurated the prestigious college and since then AMC has achieved many high points and till date has proudly produced6822 MBBS graduates and 2350 post graduate doctors.Its journey which began from 3rd November, 1947, in the abandoned US military hospital of the Second World War at Borbari, Dibrugarh, to completing 60 years of service was completed following many...
The northeastern states have lately reaffirmed themselves as cauldrons of violence. Instances of violence have repeatedly marred the peace of these sibling states where rebel guns have resulted in a number of casualties. Imphal is smoldering after an ambush at Sorbung village in Phungyar sub division of Ukhrul district in the daylight hours of this Wednesday morning. One Assam Rifles officer and two jawans were killed including a Major while seven others were left wounded. The ambush took place while the Assam Rifles troops were moving from Soide village to Kasom on a routine patrol duty. Mentionably, this was the second major militant ambush in Manipur after members of the People...
The Oxford Dictionary defines the word sacrifice as the voluntary relinquishing of something valued or surrender of possession as offering to deity. Animal sacrifice (of goats and buffaloes) is otherwise rare but is held on certain festivals in contemporary India, and Sri Lanka, especially to honor the Mother Goddess (Durga) by the followers of certain cult groups of Hindus belonging to the sect of Shaktism. Due to severe condemnation by most other Hindus, calling this as a barbaric act, these animal sacrifices are quickly disappearing in India and Sri Lanka. Among the Hindus of Nepal, and certain sections of Bengal and Assam animal sacrifices are common even today, not only for the Mother...
Love thy neighbour is a maxim that is all set to be renewed with improved vigour and gusto with the decision of the representatives of the People’s Committee for Peace Initiative in Assam (PCPIA) and Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) which pledged to ensure a bond of love and brotherhood among the people of Assam and Nagaland. This is also seen as an attempt the end the festering four decade old boundary issue between the two states.A team of representatives from Assam and Nagaland are all set to organize a “confidence building exercise” involving residents of villages on either side of the border at Merapani, the main point of contention between the...
Another rhino bites the dust in Kaziranga National Park as poachers struck again in the supposedly conserved abode of these rare species. Altogether 17 rhinos have been killed by poachers or have drowned in floodwaters since January 2007. On September 16, poachers shot a rhino at Hatikhuli tea estate near the national park. This time the rangers stumbled upon the carcass of the female rhino on October 23 from near Bandorkhal area under the Borbeel forest camp in Bagori range of the park.Five rhinos were poached in 2006, while seven were killed in 2005 in Kaziranga. According to a departmental source poachers in KNP killed nearly seventy rhinos since 1985. The forest department is worried...
The northeast is a hitherto untapped tourist destination. Hills and vales, lakes and dales or rather nature’s pearls abound in this region. But the world at large has been fed on its militancy tales instead of the jewels of the eight states that form the northeast. Every state has a unique feature be it the wild life, culture or even a rich history -- we have it all.It is not that nothing is being done in boosting the tourism potential of this region. The state government in a bid to avert the spotlight from militancy to tourism in the North Cachar Hills has decided to hold an NC Hills Festival which will be held at the Sankardeva Kalakshetra here in the second week of November. The...
Durga puja is awaited with bated breath every year and the goddess is given a tearful farewell every year at the end of the puja, and this year won’t be any different either. Guwahati’s heart throbbed with festive fervour as devotees offered ‘anjali’ in their ‘para pandals’ Guwahatians pulsated with the puja spirit indulging in pandal hopping and invoking the goddess with hearts brimming with pious devotion. For once the markets had a forsaken look as the usual customers turned devotees attired in their festive best visited pandals instead of shops luring them with festive discounts.Strangely Guwahati lacked the usual crowded streets during the puja days...