Help Find Ajay Sah
Saly Moubayed
On Tuesday, January 19th, 2021, Drew University student Ajay Sah went missing, and there is little information available regarding the circumstances of his disappearance. According to PIXII, Sah was last seen boarding an NJ Transit train at Penn Station in New York City. The 22-year-old Nepalese international student has been missing ever since, and family and close friends of Sah are asking those with any information concerning Sah's whereabouts to come forward.
Ajay Sah is one of thousands of people who are reported missing in the United States every year. According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, there are currently about 87,500 active missing persons cases in the United States as of December 31, 2019. Each year, people go missing for a number of reasons ranging from mental health-related episodes to being victims of a crime.
Those struggling with their mental health can feel as though distancing themselves from their current situation is the best way to solve their problems. Miscommunications between people can also trigger a person to believe that they are unwanted or cannot get help. Furthermore, many missing persons cases go unreported due to the stigma surrounding mental health. Many people do not understand the extent of the danger that mental illness can put a person in, thus referring to those struggling with mental illness as overdramatic and paying little mind to the individual. According to the AFP, “There is a persistent stigma within the community of acknowledging that mental health is a community health issue. Both the missing person and those who are left behind can feel that they have little support available to them.” Many missing persons cases are the result of the lack of understanding surrounding mental illness.
Another leading cause of missing persons cases in the United States and abroad is human trafficking. Human trafficking is when a person is recruited for some type of labor or commerical sex act through the use of violence, coercion, or threats. Human trafficking is also defined as “the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs” (unodc.org). Human trafficking is not as uncommon as it may seem, and people who run away from home make themselves easy targets for human traffickers. There have been over 49,000 cases of human trafficking reported in the United States since 2007 and that number is steadily increasing. Oftentimes, however, it is hard to decode the circumstances related to individual disappearances, making it even more difficult for law enforcement to locate these individuals.
Ajay Sah is an example of the thousands of missing persons cases that plague families and communities every year. A Facebook post created to help find Sah has sent the following message to locals and those involved in the search for Ajay Sah:
The family of missing Drew University student Ajay Sah is asking businesses and residents in Midtown Manhattan to review any available security video between the hours of 12:00 - 6:00 AM on the morning of January 20, 2021 for signs of the 22-year-old. He arrived at Penn Station from Madison, NJ at 12:06 AM, but it is unknown which direction he went when he exited the building. Additionally, please check any areas of your property where a person might seek shelter from a snowstorm. (Facebook.com)
Authorities and those close to Sah are urging anyone who believes that they may have seen him or may have knowledge of his whereabouts to contact local law enforcement right away. You can help find Ajay Sah by donating to the GoFundMe page linked below.
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