Almost half of girl trafficking is from West Bengal: CRY

About 42% of trafficking of minor girls in India is from West Bengal, according to a report released Tuesday.

NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) analysed the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data for 2014 and found that almost 75% of the cases related to procurement of minor girls across the country are concentrated in just four states.

West Bengal tops the list as it accounts for 42% of the cases registered under procurement of minor girls in India, the other three states being Assam, Bihar and Odisha. Haryana's share is 14%.

These five states in India account for 97% of girl child trafficking, according to the analysis by CRY.

"Going by the current trend reflected in the government data, West Bengal along with some other states continue to show worrying trends in cases related to missing children. There is a close linkage of missing children to organised crime," Atindra Nath Das, regional director of the NGO said.

The magnitude of missing children in India and available on-ground evidence gathered by CRY over the last three and a half decades indicate that the large number of missing children are actually trafficked, kidnapped or abducted, he said.

Missing children data from 2014 shows that 70% of the children who went missing in that year were girls.

According to NCRB data, West Bengal was among the top five states in the country in kidnapping and abduction of children and accounts for 6% of such cases in the country.

Cases related to kidnapping and abduction of minors in the state has grown by 608% over the last five years, it said.