Sanjay Joshi
Nominated For : Forcing government to formulate policy on
tracing missing children
Initiative - Founded an organization to help parents
find missing children
Nominated For : Forcing government to formulate policy on
tracing missing children
Initiative - Founded an organization to help parents
find missing children
Vishwa Patel missing case changed the life of rights activist Sanjay Joshi. So did it happen to the state’s policy on search for missing children. Joshi, 45, became a messiah for the missing children and their parents in Gujarat and shook up the state’s machinery which was forced to come up with a policy to lodge complaints of missing children.Children going missing in the state was a serious issue and the administration’s response remained insensitive to it. That the government had to issue directive to the police to lodge such complaints and pursue the case sincerely is a testimony to Joshi’s resolve.
A resident of Satellite, Joshi has been working for protection of human rights for years. Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption came as a godsend for him. He joined the movement and while being a part of Team Anna, he wrote a number of articles on domestic violence, corruption and missing children in India.
However, people started recognising his work when he picked up the issue of Vishwa Patel, the 11-year-old girl who went missing from a marriage function in her housing society in Vejalpur in January 2012. Days of deadlock and inactivity on part of the police prompted Joshi to approach Vishwa’s parents and join them in search for the child.
Thousands of parents joined them, in turn. Such was the scale of problem in the state. The moving tales of the parents only strengthened his resolve and he decided to give his effort a formal shape. Joshi launched a website, www. searchmychild.in, and Facebook page, Searchmychild India, to bring together the parents of missing children, their kin and all those who felt for them.
The effort led to the creation of a well-knit community supported by activists from other parts of the country in their endeavour in tracing the missing children. A number of public meetings in city gardens was held and a few dharnas were organised to create awareness among the people and force the government to formulate a policy on search for missing children in the state. Joshi escalated the issue by taking it up with senior government functionaries and political leaders.
During the campaign, he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. "In 2012, we organised events on 240 days. A big relief came when the Supreme Court ruled that the complaint of missing children should be considered a serious issue and FIR should be lodged by the police with immediate effect. Gujarat High Court, too, issued guidelines on the missing children," Joshi says.
A special cell was set up by the CID devoted to searching for missing children in the state. "There was tremendous pressure on me from several quarters to stop the activity, but I wanted to see the smile return to the face of missing children's parents. They saw in me a ray of hope and I was sure that one day we will win the battle against an apathetic government machinery," Joshi said.
According to data compiled by Joshi and his associates and put on the website and the Facebook page, between 2007 and April 2013, as many as 58,972 people had gone missing in the state. Children formed a whopping 70 per cent of these. Increased pressure on the government agencies, led to the successful tracing of 51,442 of them. Now parents can approach the police and lodge complaint of their missing child without waiting for several days, as the case was earlier.
A resident of Satellite, Joshi has been working for protection of human rights for years. Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption came as a godsend for him. He joined the movement and while being a part of Team Anna, he wrote a number of articles on domestic violence, corruption and missing children in India.
However, people started recognising his work when he picked up the issue of Vishwa Patel, the 11-year-old girl who went missing from a marriage function in her housing society in Vejalpur in January 2012. Days of deadlock and inactivity on part of the police prompted Joshi to approach Vishwa’s parents and join them in search for the child.
Thousands of parents joined them, in turn. Such was the scale of problem in the state. The moving tales of the parents only strengthened his resolve and he decided to give his effort a formal shape. Joshi launched a website, www. searchmychild.in, and Facebook page, Searchmychild India, to bring together the parents of missing children, their kin and all those who felt for them.
The effort led to the creation of a well-knit community supported by activists from other parts of the country in their endeavour in tracing the missing children. A number of public meetings in city gardens was held and a few dharnas were organised to create awareness among the people and force the government to formulate a policy on search for missing children in the state. Joshi escalated the issue by taking it up with senior government functionaries and political leaders.
During the campaign, he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. "In 2012, we organised events on 240 days. A big relief came when the Supreme Court ruled that the complaint of missing children should be considered a serious issue and FIR should be lodged by the police with immediate effect. Gujarat High Court, too, issued guidelines on the missing children," Joshi says.
A special cell was set up by the CID devoted to searching for missing children in the state. "There was tremendous pressure on me from several quarters to stop the activity, but I wanted to see the smile return to the face of missing children's parents. They saw in me a ray of hope and I was sure that one day we will win the battle against an apathetic government machinery," Joshi said.
According to data compiled by Joshi and his associates and put on the website and the Facebook page, between 2007 and April 2013, as many as 58,972 people had gone missing in the state. Children formed a whopping 70 per cent of these. Increased pressure on the government agencies, led to the successful tracing of 51,442 of them. Now parents can approach the police and lodge complaint of their missing child without waiting for several days, as the case was earlier.
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