Delhi: Seated along the entryway to the New Delhi Railway Station, several beggars wait for an opportunity to seek alms. Most passers-by ignore them; others watch with unease. One woman draws particular attention—not for who she is, but because of the infant resting in her lap.
Seated at multiple junctures along the entryway, many others sit with their hands unfolded for an opportunity to ask for alms. Most of these pleas fall on deaf ears, while many commuters stare with an air of suspicion. The stares get harsher not because of the woman herself but because of what she holds in her lap—a tiny infant wrapped in a worn-out cloth. The child’s complexion remains untouched by the dust and grime that define the mother, prompting some onlookers to mutter whether the infant may have been kidnapped and placed with her.
Such assumptions reflect long-standing concerns about organised begging networks in the capital. In many instances, these discussions arise each time a child goes missing, later appearing as another statistic in police records—numbers often cited in fact-finding surveys but rarely resolved.
According to the Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET), 16 minors have gone missing from Delhi’s railway stations between January 1 and November 21 this year. All remain untraced. Most are in their mid- to late teens, while four are below 12 years of age.
In 2024, during the same period, 12 children went missing. While the increase is modest, the lack of resolution is a major concern. Through 2025, only one missing child has been traced—a 15-year-old recovered within two days by the New Delhi Railway Station police. This suggests that for every traced child, 16 remain missing. In comparison, three children were traced in the same period last year, when four went missing for every one recovered.
New Delhi Railway Station—recording a daily footfall of around five lakh—remains the epicentre of these disappearances.
‘Disappeared on way to hospital’
On September 23, an 11-year-old boy living at a children’s shelter home went missing near the station. The child had fallen ill around 3 pm with nausea and vomiting, having already thrown up once or twice inside the shelter.
Neha, a 27-year-old employee at the shelter, had decided to take the child to a hospital. “After informing the shelter in-charge, Govind Singh, who advised taking the boy to the hospital if his condition worsened. As no other staff member was available at the time, I left with him,” she said.
The pair booked an auto-rickshaw through a ride-hailing app. Due to heavy traffic, the driver asked them to meet near Exit Gate No. 2 on the Paharganj side of New Delhi Railway Station. Upon reaching the location, the minor had to use the washroom to vomit owing to the continual regression of his health. “I went to check on him later but he had vanished. Despite an extensive search in and around the area, I was unable to locate him,” she said.
Presently, a case has been registered under Section 137 (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Teenager remains untraced
On September 1, a 16-year-old boy went missing after running away from Platform No. 7. His father, Lalan Sada, had mentioned in his FIR that his son had left home pretending to go to school but instead headed to New Delhi Railway Station with a friend, only to run away when the parents tracked them down.
Sada said that the boy had left home wearing his school uniform. “My son left home wearing his school uniform – a white shirt, blue trousers, and white shoes. He told me that he was going to school as usual. When Sagar did not return home by evening, I started looking for him from 7:00 PM onwards but could not locate him,” he said.
It later emerged that the teenager and a friend had gone to the railway station instead. When the parents located them, the friend returned home with his mother, Punita Devi, but the teenager bolted and disappeared into the crowd.
Despite multiple searches, he has not been traced since. The FIR was filed on September 7.
Cases of abandonment
While some children go missing, others are abandoned at stations. Until November 21 this year, the police recovered eight abandoned children from railway premises.
On July 15, a 10 to 15-day-old baby girl was found alone on the Punjab Mail after it arrived at New Delhi. The incident was first reported through Child Helpline after Rajasthan Police informed Delhi Police that someone had left the infant in the coach.
A passenger, Brahm Dutt Sharma, told the police that the baby’s parents were with her until Agra Cantt, where they disembarked and disappeared.
The child was recovered and brought to the railway station. “From the statement of the witness and the circumstances, it clearly appeared that the parents had intentionally and permanently abandoned the infant girl with the purpose of deserting her forever,” the FIR stated.
In another case, police found a woman and her three-year-old child abandoned at Samaypur Badli Railway Station. The woman appeared mentally disturbed and unable to identify herself; the child was non-verbal. Both have since been moved to a shelter.
Underlying vulnerabilities
Ravi Kant, national convener of the Just Rights for Children Alliance, said Delhi and the wider National Capital Region function as both source and destination points for child trafficking. Many missing children end up in forced labour.
“Most of these children are abducted from slum clusters and low-income areas,” he said. “It is easier for traffickers to target poorer households due to their lack of financial backing, which limits their ability to pursue legal action.”
Kidnapping for a male child
On November 19, police rescued a four-month-old boy kidnapped from a pavement near Old Delhi Railway Station. The accused, a woman employed at a Ghaziabad IVF centre, had befriended the mother—who lives on the pavement with her four children—and disappeared with the baby days earlier.
A case under Section 137 BNS (kidnapping) was filed at Kotwali police station, leading to the child’s recovery and the suspect’s arrest.
Wider trends
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2023 report, Delhi recorded 6,284 children missing during the year, raising the cumulative number of untraced minors to 12,324. Police recovered 6,972 children. Overall, 24,623 people were reported missing in Delhi in 2023, compared to 29,140 recoveries.
