Headline, April3, 2013

'''KIDNAPP​ING FOR RANSOM : THE

 GROWTH INDUSTRY OF CHOICE'''

Every story that you get to hear about Abduction, or Kidnapping for ransom, is horribly astonishing but not unique.

This part of the world,  -the subcontinent of India and Pakistan, the economy is stirring and swelling the ranks of an aspirational middle class, but for those seeking a short cut to prosperity, kidnapping for ransom is the growth industry of choice.

Children and Students are the most vulnerable: around 60,000 are abducted in India every year, and Delhi, the capital is the criminals favourite hunting ground.

Like Pakistan, -in the bursting cities of the new India, Kidnap for ransom is the growth industry. The Indian National Human Rights Commission estimates that -in a country of more than a billion people- around 60,000 children go missing every year. In Delhi alone, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of kidnapped children. The Delhi police commissioner reported 1,233 cases of kidnapped children in 2008. In 2010, there were 2,975.

A representative from Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a local charity that works on this issue stated 2011 to be even worse. 5 to 6 children go missing every day. These figures are a great shock to the world at large. One British Insurer placed India fifth on its international index of  ''kidnap risk'' ahead of Colombia. But what is truly startling is fact that the Delhi Commissioner recently reported that 90% of those arrested for kidnap 2009 were first-time offenders in other words, they were trying their luck.

In one interesting case, the police were astonished when they made the arrest. The culprit and the criminal was a 26 years old man named Milind Godi, who came from a wealthy family, had studied hotel management in London, and owned a car part's factory in Rohtak. During his police interview Godi said that kidnapping for him was a means to make some quick cash to settle gambling debts -and was, he admitted shamefully, inspired by the plot of a Bollywood film.

At the higher level, it is now exceedingly obvious that the kidnap trend seems to be fuelled by jealousy  - a weird by-product of the affluenza gripping societies in these parts of the world. In many many cases it was discovered that the prime suspect was invariably a white collar professional from broadly the same class as the unfortunate victim.

The Students in both Pakistan and India should observe every precaution against this horror and stay alert and safe.

With respectful dedication to the police force fighting this horrid crime in both the countries

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless