India's 50,000 missing children

INDIA: Thirteen-year-old Shivam Singh promised his mother he would be back to do his homework as he ran to get some sweets. He never returned, becoming one of the 50,000 children who go missing every year in India.

"My son left his books open, put on his sandals, combed his hair and ran out," Pinky Singh recalls tearfully of the fateful evening in July when Shivam popped out of the house. "It was the last time I saw him." Three months on, perched on the edge of her son's bed and surrounded by his toys and sports trophies, Pinky Singh is terrified by what may have befallen him.

"I just pray that he is not forced into drugs or begging. He is a very innocent and studious boy."

According to recent crime data, 14 children go missing in New Delhi every day, at least six of whom are victims of human trafficking. AFP