Noida police compiles data on missing women

The deputy inspector general (DIG) of Meerut range, Laxmi Singh, has asked the city police personnel to be more proactive in solving abduction or missing cases related to women. Already facing flak for an allegedly delayed investigation in the case of Shipra Kataria Malik, a fashion designer who went ‘missing’ before finally returning on her own, the Noida police is now compiling data on all missing cases involving women in order to solve them soon.

“Taking a cue from the case of Shipra Malik, I have asked officials in my range to compile data from all police stations where similar cases were registered and are still not solved. Also, a meeting will be called of all the superintendents of police from Meerut, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Baghpat and Hapur to discuss the issue,” the DIG said.

“I have sought details of all kidnapping, abduction and missing cases of women and girls of all ages. We will constitute an in charge for each case. One senior police officer will be given the responsibility to solve the case. Teams will be formed to conduct raids if required. I have asked senior officials to make sure that the missing or abducted person is recovered,” Singh said.

She said the meeting of all SPs was supposed to be called last week, but the officers were not able to leave their respective cities due to security preparations for the Maha Shivratri festival.

In the case of Malik, she went missing on February 29 and made a PCR call from Lajpat Nagar in Delhi the same day before her phone was switched off.

After the family approached the police, a missing case was filed the same day. However, a case for abduction was registered only on March 1. Senior police officers too reached Noida to solve the case. However, before the police could trace her, she called her husband on March 4 from Gurgaon and was brought to Noida from there.

The police said while Malik initially claimed that she was abducted, during questioning she confessed that she had left home due to a family dispute. However, an internal inquiry was initiated against the city police for the delay in registering an FIR of abduction.