Jahnvi Ahuja was lucky, but where's the concern for other missing kids?

New Delhi: A week after Jahnvi Ahuja went missing from India Gate lawns while enjoying an evening out with her parents and relatives, the three-year-old was found wandering alone near Lajwanti Garden in West Delhi’s Janakpuri area on Sunday night. Her reunification with her parents surely brings relief to many in the city and across the nation as well. However, the story doesn’t end here. Almost everyone, including the media, police and several others, have been in the self-congratulatory mode ever since the baby was re-united with her parents. The media claims its wide coverage of the matter did the trick, cops believe their non-stop hunt helped in getting the kid back and netizens assert that the social media campaign launched on Facebook, Twitter and the instant messaging service, WhatsApp, managed the impossible. Fine. Everyone deserves to be applauded for the end result. But is the concern and sense of urgency shown in this case uniform in case of all missing kids? We shall come to that later. [caption id=“attachment_1744471” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The three-year-old Jhanvi Ahuja. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] “We have been successfully able to recover Jahnvi. Thanks to the almighty. Thanks to the Delhi police,” writes Vaibhav Aggarwal, who claims to be national president of Bharat Yuva Kranti, in one of his Facebook posts. Claiming credit for the recovery, Amrinder Singh Zindagi Charitable Trust, who had created a Facebook page ‘Bring Back Jahnvi’, writes on the social networking site, “We got Our Jahnvi Back…we all are in Maya puri police station…doing legal formalities. …thanks all you my friends….” Jahnvi’s uncle Ravi Ahuja told Firstpost, “After our 48-hour search at and around India Gate went in vain, we initiated a campaign on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp and pasted and distributed posters carrying Jahnvi’s photo and our contact numbers. We also held door-to-door campaign to find the baby. All these efforts finally bore fruit and we got back Jahnvi.” Thanking the police, media and people in general who spared their time to search his daughter, Jahnvi’s father Rakesh Ahuja said, “It was the collective effort that brought back happiness in our life.” “Refusing to believe that we would never see the child again, we kept our tireless search on. The police investigated the case seriously, the media pursued the matter strongly and last but not least, my family, friends and others helped us in all possible ways,” he added. Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi said, “Collective effort made the police, media and campaigns on social networks appears to have resulted in the safe recovery of the child as nobody in the national capital knew who Jahnvi was and how she looked like.” “I am extremely thankful to my police force, colleagues in the Crime Branch and Special Cell who gave the culprits sleepless nights by constantly conducting raids on the whereabouts of suspects,” he told Firstpost. When asked about the possible reasons why the child was abandoned near the park in Janakpuri’s D Block D, he listed the following reasons: 1. The modus operandi of the crime suggests that it was not done by professional abductors. We are sure that it was not at all done by any child trafficking syndicate because there was not a single scratch on the child’s body. She was in good health. 2. We suspect that it was done by childless couple. They shaved off the child’s hair to hide her identity but they could not get success in their plan. They took care of the baby. It also appears that with an intention to ensure that she does not go in wrong hands, they hanged a placard around her neck on which her father’s name and uncle’s cell phone was written. 3. Our investigation and constant raids at several places perhaps panicked the kidnappers and they abandon her. Asked why the police fail to follow other cases with the same seriousness given the fact that 14 children go missing everyday from the national capital, he said, “We investigate all cases seriously. Some children are traced soon, while others take time.” A passerby, identified as Mukesh, spotted the baby walking alone near the park at 8 pm. He informed the PCR which arrived at the spot immediately and took the toddler to Mayapuri police station where her parents were also called. After they ascertain her identity, she was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for a medical check-up. The child was also given a counselling. The Delhi Police on Sunday had declared a reward of Rs 50,000 for those giving information about Jahnvi. After getting safe custody of her daughter, Jahvi’s emotional mother said, “Only I can understand the importance of this moment. It is like a rebirth of my daughter.”