Neighbourhood love, domestic strife make the young flee home

MUMBAI: The maximum number of missing person cases among young adults, or those in the age group of 16-25 years, arise out of problems at home or the compulsions of unapproved love, police officers and other experts say.
Last month, the Vikhroli police received a missing person complaint from the parents of a 17-year-old schoolgirl. During the probe, the police found that the girl
had eloped with a neighbour.“She was in love with the
boy, who was of a similar age, and eloped with him after their parents objected to the affair. We are still trying to track them down,” said a police officer.
Low grades in school or college and the resultant fear of parental reprisal is another reason for young adults to flee home, said psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty. “Of course, love affairs are common. Girls are lured by adults with promises. Many come from difficult families and some
have low tolerance levels and show borderline personality traits.”
He said such behaviour will decrease in society once families start encouraging more openness. “If there are buffers like sharing of bad news and family democracy, a behaviour like running away from home will decrease. Sometimes serious differences arise with parents over a number of factors, leading to sadness and depression. Some youngsters get involved in bad monetary deals and then flee to escape the repercussions. An open atmosphere at home helps in dealing with such situations.”
Love was blamed by both deputy commissioner of police (zone V) Dhananjay Kulkarni and former Thane commissioner of police SPS Yadav for the majority of missing person complaints in the category of youngsters. “Especially, girls leave parents because they are not allowed to marry a man of their choice,” said Kulkarni. “Incidents of missing persons (in the 16-25 age group) can be primarily attributed to love affairs or parental discord,” said Yadav.
Reasons besides discord caused by love include rebelliousness among children, irresolvable family issues and parental harassment, said IPS officer-turned-lawyer YP Singh. “A smaller number of young adults also go missing because of crime: kidnapping, trafficking, rape and murder.”