Missing, but not forgotten

Missing, but not forgotten

As journalists, we come across incidents that sometimes leave a long-lasting impact on us. So it was not surprising when young scribe Arita Sarkar decided to write a book about real life cases of child kidnapping. Sarkar has focused on 10 such cases in her non-fiction book, Kidnapped: True Stories of Abduction, Ransom and Revenge, published by Penguin Random House. It’s her interest in cases concerning the Juvenile Justice Act, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and child rehabilitation that led her to research and write this book. 

Sarkar, who has a degree in English literature from Delhi University, says that the cases that were selected for the book focused on the outlier, those that stood out from the rest. “Some cases had to be dropped while others were added depending on whether I was able to get in touch with everyone relevant to the case. In order to find the best possible collection, the list of 10 went through many rounds of updating,” she says.

Excerpts:
- Why did you decide to focus on child abductions?
The idea for the book was suggested by my former reporting head when I was working with a Mumbai tabloid. I found various types of kidnapping cases involving ransom, human trafficking and even extortion gangs. In order to do justice to the stories of the victims, I realised that I wanted to focus on a particular kind of cases — those that involved ransom or revenge, because kids are vulnerable targets.

- What kind of research went into writing each story?
From the beginning of the research work till I penned down the last word of the book, it took me a little over a year to put it all together. Setting up the interviews with the relevant people and meeting them all turned out to be the most time consuming part of the project. Some people needed a little more coaxing than the others, but eventually, everyone graciously came forward to share their experiences. Apart from the interviews, I have also relied on court judgements and post-mortem reports.

- Did you face any challenges while writing the book? How did you overcome them?
The travel was an exciting experience, but it made me nervous at times, as well. Navigating through cities I had never visited before like Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Nadiad was challenging at times, but I managed to find my way around. During my stay in Gujarat, I travelled 140 km every day in a local bus between Ahmedabad and Nadiad to meet the people I had to interview. 

- Does the interest to write about such incidents come from the fact that you are a  journalist?
I haven’t covered crime beat before, so the research for the book was relatively a new experience for me. However, in some ways, it was similar to how we work in print like finding first-hand information from credible sources. As journalists we know the importance of reporting such heinous crimes as accurately and as sensitively as possible. So in a way, yes, being a journalist I found the topic of the book worth digging deeper into. 

- How would you describe your experience as a first time writer?
After being trained to write stories for newspapers, I had to unlearn it all while writing the chapters for Kidnapped: True Stories of Abduction, Ransom and Revenge. I learnt a great deal about writing style while working on the book. It took some time getting used to it, especially since I had an overwhelming amount of information. 

I had to figure out a way to make those details paint a picture and tell a story. I tried to be as detailed as possible and even included the conversations between a kidnapper and a parent wherever a recording was available. To keep the accuracy, I have also included any alternative theories there may be about an incident in the cases.

- How did you realise your passion for writing books?
As a newspaper reporter, I have always enjoyed writing the in-depth pieces on topics that deserve a voice. Writing this book left a similar feeling behind. Considering this is just my first book, I’m not sure how passionate I am about writing one. But I am interested in many other important topics and I hope that I can write another book soon.

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