The Lie of 75,000 Missing Children: Another ‘Kerala Story’ in the Making

A routine railway interception in Palakkad was swiftly transformed into a nationwide scare about missing children and forced religious conversion. By stitching together old data, debunked cases, and communal rhetoric, right-wing media and political actors revived a long-discredited narrative. This investigation traces how the figure “75,000” was pulled from context, how facts were buried, and how Kerala once again became the stage for a fabricated moral panic.

On January 11, 2026, twenty-one boys and two adults from Bihar arrived at Pallakkad Railway Station via the Vivek Express. Out of twenty-one, only the guardians of five children were travelling with them. The Railway Police Force  (RPF) noticed that all the boys were below the age of thirteen and were travelling without proper documents. When the RPF enquired about the whereabouts of their travel,  the guardians informed that they were going to a private educational institution in Kozhikode. Various news organisations, including Mathrubhumi, News18 Malayalam, and Asianet News, covered the event on January 12.

In the following days, on the pretext of this incident, several social media accounts on Facebook and the right-wing media, such as Janam TV and Karma News, quoted politician and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay from his podcast dated December 10, 2025. The Janam TV report dated January 14 quotes Ashwini Upadhyay, stating that 75,000 children aged between one and five belonging to poor families went missing from five states, and the investigation later revealed that they were all in orphanages in Kerala and that they had all been converted.

Offbeat concerns systematically debunked this claim and revealed that the social media accounts and the right-wing media are targeting Kerala with another cooked-up “Kerala Story”.

We found that the claim combines multiple past incidents to fabricate a false narrative of the trafficking of 75,000 children and their religious conversion in Kerala. There is no finding by the CBI that substantiates these claims.

The viral posts and comments that spread lie

On January 13, 2025, a Facebook user shared a 1-minute 25-second-long video featuring Supreme Court lawyer and politician Ashwini Upadhyay discussing an alleged pending case in the Supreme Court linked to missing children. He states that 75,000 children aged between one and five from poor families have gone missing from five states – Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam, Bengal and Bihar.  As of January 16, the post received 2,400 views, 88 shares, and 19 comments.

He further suggests that, following a Public Interest Litigation, the Kerala High Court ordered a CBI probe into the matter. The investigation found that all  75,000 children were kidnapped and brought to the Yatheemkhanas (orphanages under Muslim management) in Kerala, and that they were all subjected to religious conversion. Ashwini Upadhyay goes on to say that India is a country where kidnappings happen for conversion, and this can only be curbed if religious conversion is placed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as an illegal activity. The post’s caption connects the video to the recent incident where twenty-one children were found at a railway station in Kerala without proper documents.

A user responded, “Already knew about this. If Christians are increasing their population, Muslims are sexually abusing these children.” Another user remarked,” Kerala will have to pay a heavy price if central agencies do not investigate, find out the truth and take action as soon as possible.” In a similar tone, a user stated, ”75000 children were abducted from these states, converted and placed in orphanages in Kerala. Muslim religious lobbies in Kerala are using these children for organ trafficking to Arab countries to earn crores of rupees. A CBI investigation is required in this regard. This has been going on for ages. Before this, a Muslim priest was caught with more than 100 children at the Kuttipuram railway station. Later, the religious lobbies managed to escape by taking control of the government.”

Quoting Ashwini Upadhyay and connecting the alleged 75,000 children missing case with the recent incident that occurred at Palakkad railway station, Janam TV published a report on January 14.

In a similar manner, Karma News shared a Facebook post on January 15, indicating that around 75,000 children from north Indian states were converted to Islam in orphanages run by Muslim managements in Kerala.

As of January 16, the post garnered 2,700 shares, 5,300 likes, and 1,400 comments.

Responding to the post, a user stated, “Whatever the Muslims do, it is Jihad. There must be a hidden agenda behind it all. Be careful.” While another user remarked, “In this, they came to seek refuge from the oppression of the upper castes in the Hindu religion. First, Hindus should change the caste system and bring the lower castes to the forefront by holding their hands. The Christian missionaries are also taking advantage of their poverty. In Kerala, they converted people by giving them milk powder.” A user also indicated that Kerala has more benefits based on religion than any other state, and these benefits should be abolished.

Several right-wing Facebook pages and accounts shared similar posts on January 16.

Where did the number 75,000 originate?

We analysed the viral claim to trace the origin of the figure 75,000. A keyword search led us to an NDTV report dated March 6, 2013, which reported that the Rajya Sabha had been informed that approximately 75,000 children went missing between 2010 and 2012.

According to the report, Paban Singh Ghatowar, who served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs from July 2011 to 2014, informed the Rajya Sabha that approximately 2,36,000 children went missing between 2010 and 2012. He made the statement on behalf of the then Minister of Women and Child Development, Krishna Tirath. Acknowledging a sharp rise in cases of missing children, he further stated that of the 2,36,000 cases, 1,61,800 children were traced, while about 75,000 remained untraced.

The most recent official data on missing children in India was published in 2023 in the National Crime Records Bureau’s Crime in India report. According to the report, around 48,800 children remained untraced. Of these, 66% were girls aged between 12 and 18 years, and overall, girls accounted for 73% of untraced children.

The Crime in India Report 2023 does not record any cases linking missing children to religious conversion. According to organisations and activists working for child rights, most missing children are instead believed to be victims of child labour or sex trafficking.

What happened in Palakkad, Kerala, in 2014?

On May 24, 2014 and May 25, 2014, the authorities rescued nearly 600 children between the ages of 6 and 14 at Palakkad railway station who were reportedly brought from Bihar and Jharkhand on the pretext of sending them to orphanages. According to an India Today report dated May 29, 2014, these children were accompanied by 43 adults, who claimed to be their caretakers, and they were apparently being taken to the Moiuddin Poya Haji Memorial Home, a shelter home in Kozhikode, Kerala. Soon, the incident attracted national attention with rising allegations of child trafficking against Kerala, which the state right out rejected.

In a similar incident, around fifty-eight children between the ages of 8 and 14 were intercepted and rescued at Palakkad Junction railway station on June 5, 2014.

A PIL followed by a CBI investigation

A Palakkad-based All Kerala Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Protection Council filed a Public Interest Litigation through advocate BH Mansoor in response to the incidents, in addition to four other petitions, requesting a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation.

Following the PIL and petitions, the Kerala High Court on July 6, 2015, ordered a CBI investigation into the incident occured at Palakkad Railway station and also into other registered child trafficking cases in Kerala where victims were brought in from other states.

CBI exonerated the Orphanages in 2019

In October 2019, after five years of Investigation into the matter of the alleged child trafficking into Muslim orphanages in Kerala, from states like Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, the CBI confirmed in the CBI court in Ernakulam that no trafficking was involved. The CBI exonerated the Mukkom Muslim Orphanage at Mukkom, Kozhikode, and the Anwarul Orphanage at Vettathur, Malappuram, which were under the authorities’ scanner.

As reported by The Telegraph on December 1, 2019, the CBI highlighted the below given points to back its findings.

• The children had been brought to Kerala with the full knowledge, acquiescence and cooperation of their parents, and without any threat, intimidation, bribery or coercion.
• The Bihar government had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court denying that any children had been trafficked from the state to Kerala.
• The Kerala social justice department had on June 22, 2013, issued an order allowing children from poor families in other states to be admitted to orphanages in Kerala even if their parents were alive.
• The children appeared exhausted and feeble because they had travelled in jam-packed, unreserved compartments across 2,700km in stifling summer heat. But they were provided with food and water on the way.
• All the children had tickets. The confusion arose because of the language barrier between the railway police, journalists and child rights activists on one hand and the children and their escorts on the other.
• Both the accused orphanages have won awards and recognitions for the safety, care and education they provide to the children with them.

News media outlet National Herald also reported the findings of the CBI.

Who is Ashwini Upadhyay?

Ashwini Upadhyay is a politician, a Supreme Court lawyer, and a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Delhi unit. He rose to public prominence through his involvement in Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and began his political career by joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2012, before moving to the BJP in November 2014.

He is widely known for filing numerous Public Interest Litigations, ranging from advocating laws against religious conversion and challenging the Places of Worship Act to seeking minority status for Hindus, demanding the swift disposal of criminal cases against politicians, and pushing for the renaming of places associated with Mughal rulers. His legal interventions, often seen as aligned with the BJP’s political agenda, have drawn sustained criticism.

As per a 2022 Deccan Herald report, Ashwini Upadhyay, dubbed as the “PIL man of India,” had 150 PILs in his name, out of which 125 were in the Supreme Court and 25 in the Delhi High Court.

On April 13, 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed Ashwini Upadhyay’s petition challenging the constitutionality of the Waqf Act, 1995. The petition had also sought a uniform legal framework for trusts and trustees, charitable institutions, and religious endowments, arguing that Parliament cannot enact a special law dealing exclusively with the trusts of a single religious community.

Subsequently, on October 18, 2023, the Supreme Court rejected his petition challenging Article 26 of the Constitution, which sought to declare that Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs have similar rights to manage their religious institutions, subject to state intervention.

‘No question of religious conversion’ says CWC. 

In the recent incident in which 21 children were found at Palakkad Railway Station, the Child Welfare Committee denied any link to religious conversion, stating that all the children belonged to the Muslim community.

On January 11, 21 children hailing from Bihar were rescued at Palakkad Junction railway station. Offbeat Concerns contacted the Child Welfare Committee, Palakkad, and the chairperson stated, “Around 21 boys between the ages of 10 and 13 from Bihar’s Kishanganj village were found travelling without proper documents by the Railway Protection Force at Palakkad Junction railway station. The RPF contacted the child helpline, and the Palakkad Child Welfare Committee coordinated to initially move the children to an orphanage in Palakkad. Out of 21, only the Guardians of 5 children traveled along with them, and they all carried Aadhar and belonged to the Muslim community, so this is not a case of religious conversion. Two adults who were travelling with the children claimed that they were being taken to a private educational institution in Kozhikode for Quran study, but the children didn’t possess any transfer certificate from their previous educational institute, which worried the RPF. The children were handed over to the Kozhikode  Child Welfare Committee, who shifted them to a Government Children’s Home. They were given counseling, and the authorities talked with the parents in Kishanganj.”

The Chairperson highlighted that the recent incident is not linked to any previous incidents.

Uttar Pradesh Police and a false love jihad claim against Kerala

On July 28, 2025, Azhimukham, a media outlet from Kerala, reported a similar incident where the Uttar Police targeted Kerala with false love jihad and conversion claims. The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police alleged that a minor Dalit girl from UP was kidnapped and taken to Kerala for forced religious conversion and terror recruitment. However, it was revealed later that the two minor girls travelled to Kerala looking for Jobs.

The investigation thus revealed that Ashwini Upadhyay’s statement that 75,000 children who went missing from northern and north-eastern states in India were kidnapped and trafficked to Kerala for forced conversion is not factual.