Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala police is keeping a special watch on nomads and migrant workers in the wake of an increase in child missing cases in the state, a top official said.

The state police chief, DGP Loknath Behera informed the state Human Rights panel that the Janamaithri wing of the police department had been entrusted with the task of tracing children who had gone missing under various circumstances in the southern state.

Information on nomadic groups and migrant workers were being collected, he said.

The 'Janamaithri Suraksha Project' is a prestigious community policing initiative of the Kerala government.

The rights panel chairman, Antony Dominic, had recently directed the DGP to submit a report on the steps taken to control the disappearance of children.

In the report, the top cop said immediate and effective action is taken if a complaint is received about a missing child and to trace them.

The police report also said an investigation was progressing to find out the circumstance in which seven- year-old Devananda, a school going girl who had gone missing while playing in the backyard of her home and later found dead in Kollam district recently.

The rights panel sought the police report based on a complaint filed by human rights activist, P K Raju.

According to Kerala police's latest crime statistics, a total of 91 cases of kidnapping and abduction of children were reported in the southern state in the initial three months, till March, this year.

Of the total 1217 crime reported against children during the period, 331 were rape and seven were murders, it said.  

(Inputs from PTI)