Patna,(BiharTimes): The figure sounds shockingly unbelievable, nevertheless true. According to a top police source on an average 15-20 cases of kidnapping and missing girls are reported from Bihar every day. Not only that, many cases go unreported.

As per this figure about 5,000 girls are either kidnapped or go missing in the state in a year.

But, if a senior police official is to be believed, more than 90 per cent of the cases are related to kidnapping for marriage and elopement. An IG rank officer was quoted in the Telegraph recently as saying: “The criminal investigation department (CID) has been assigned the responsibility to look into such cases.”

The bicycle programme of the chief minister Nitish Kumar is being attributed as the main reason for such a huge rise in crime against girls. For example in Mehraul, Bhirha and Pawra villages of Rosera sub-division of Samastipur district alone at least seven school girls have gone missing in the last six months. None of them has been recovered. The affected families have stopped enquiring from the police because of its inability to find clues in the cases.

The latest cases was reported on March 5 from Pawra village, when the daughter of a farmer, Sudhanshu Kumar Singh, went missing with the admit card for her Class X examinations beginning on March 12. She went to school, Balika Uchcha Vidyalaya, on bicycle with some friends to fetch admit card. However, she was reportedly returning alone when, according to her father, she was kidnapped.

The father approached the police two days after hectic search for her. He told the police his daughter was kidnapped by a group of youths when she was on her way home at around 10:30 AM. He also named suspects but alleged that the investigating officer of the case, Binod Ram, has failed to take action.

He said that he never imagined that they would dare to abduct a girl in the daylight.

However, the police claims to have arrested one of the suspects named by the father of the girl. His name is Ram Babu Mahto.

Going to schools has become increasingly unsafe in Bihar. The media last year reported as to how several girls of Bikramganj sub-division of Rohtas district stopped going to school after being repeated harassed on way by some miscreants.