2021/065: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line -- Deepa Anapparna

2021/065: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line -- Deepa Anapparna

‘The police told Bahadur’s ma that he ran away on his own. They said the same thing to Omvir’s ma-papa too,’ Pari says. ‘It’s good for them, right? They don’t have to lift a finger. If anything happens to us, it’s because we did it ourselves. If a TV goes missing from our homes, we stole it. If we get murdered, then we killed ourselves.’ [loc. 2251]

180 children go missing every day in India. About a third of them are never found. Many of them are street children, like the children of the basti (shantytown) in which Jai, aged nine, lives.( no spoilers )