2264 women reported missing in Maharashtra during 2013-18: Fadnavis

Maharashtra government on Wednesday said that as many as 2264 women were reported missing, of which 298 were minor girls, in the last five years (2013-2018) in the state.

The data was produced by the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a written reply, while replying to a query by ruling Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mangal Prabhat Lodha and others who sought to know the number of missing women and girls.

According to data shown, the figures of missing minor girls has rose consistently since 2015.

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“The number of missing women looks increased because, as per a Supreme Court directive given in May 2013, a kidnapping case has to be registered in case of the minor children having gone missing,” Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis, who also holds Home portfolio, said that since 2013, 5056 women below 18 years were reported missing/kidnapped. Out of this, 4758 women were found.

A total of 21652 women above 18 years were reported missing during the same period, Fadnavis said, adding that 19,686 of them were found.

The state government has prepared a Standard Operating Practice (SOP) in order to trace the missing persons, the CM said.

 “As per a supreme court directive, a case of kidnapping is registered if minor children are found missing,” Fadnavis stated.

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The CM stated trackthemissingchild.gov.in, mumbaipolice.gov.in, shodh.gov.in are the websites used to track missing children.

“As per the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) and Maharashtra Crime 2016 report, ten cases of human trafficking were registered in which 53 victims.

“Similarly, 8518 cases of atrocities against children were registered out of which the number of victims were 8908,” according to a data.

In 2016, Maharashtra stood 12^th in the country as far as number of cases of kidnapping registered against women are concerned.

(With PTI inputs)