12 children disappear every day in Delhi, majority girls

A total of 3,171 children -- 1,652 girls and 1,519 boys -- went missing in the capital this year till August 15 and police are yet to trace 985 of them, according to official statistics.

But police say the rate of missing children has come down marginally this year compared to last year. According to statistics, on an average 14 children went missing in a day in 2011, while it has come down to 12 in 2012.

Last year, a total of 5,111 -- 2,665 girls and 2,446 boys -- went missing out of which 981 are yet to be located.

The last two years have seen the number of missing girls surpassing boys. The number of untraced girls has also been on the higher side.

"No specific reason can be attributed to the disappearance of children," a senior police official said.

He said children, who were traced cited various reasons for their disappearance, including being misguided by people, maltreatment by parents, pressure of studies, unsound mind, going on own will, elopement and human trafficking.

In 2009, 5,946 children went missing, while 5,091 disappeared in 2010.

According to figures, a total of 19,320 children went missing between 2009 January and August 15, 2012, out of which 3,305 are yet to be traced.

Out of the 3,305 untraced children, girls are a majority at 1,731 while the number of boys were 1,574.