NEW DELHI: As per government data revealed recently, a shocking number of more than 13.13 lakh women and girls have gone missing in the country in the three years between 2019 and 2021, with most of them being from Madhya Pradesh.
It has been disclosed that, in 2021, 375,058 women above 18 years of age were reported as having gone missing across the country, which included at least 90,113 girls who were below the age of 18 at the time.
According to data from the Union home ministry, that was tabled in Parliament last week, 10,61,648 women in the age bracket of above 18 years and 2,51,430 girls who were minors at that time, are said to be missing from across the country between 2019 and 2021.
This shocking data about missing women and girls has been compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Out of the total, the highest number of 1,60,180 women and 38,234 girls in Madhya Pradesh went missing between 2019 and 2021, said the data provided to Parliament.
Maharashtra recorded the second-highest numbers of missing women and girls, with 1,78,400 women and 13,033 girls said to have gone missing in the time period under consideration.
Apart from these, 70,222 women and 16,649 girls were reported missing in Odisha in those three years.
Moreover, data compiled among the Union Territories showed that Delhi had recorded the highest number of missing girls and women. In Delhi, in the period between 2019 and 2021, a total of 61,054 women and 22,919 girls went missing. Also, the data showed that 8,617 women and 1,148 girls in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir went missing in the same period.
The government, while submitting the data, also informed Parliament that “a number of initiatives for the safety of women across the country,” have been taken by it, including the enactment of The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act, 2018, aimed at effective deterrence against sexual offences. The said law is meant for punishment of the guilty, and even more stringent penal provisions are prescribed than before, including award of death penalty to those guilty for the rape of girls below the age of 12 years.
The home ministry also submitted that it had introduced the National Database on Sexual Offenders on September 20, 2018, in order to facilitate the investigation and tracking of sexual offenders by law enforcement agencies across the country.
The ministry said in a press release issued by it, that “It is the responsibility of respective state governments to maintain law and order, including investigation and prosecution of crimes against women.”
Safety of women has been increasingly troubling the BJP governments in the Centre and states, more so belying the slogan ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’. In light of the recent reports of sustained sexual violence in Manipur, where the BJP chief minister was reported saying that “100s of such incidents” existed.
Critics have also come down heavily on the protection afforded to disgraced WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, despite a prolonged protest by women wrestlers, who have leveled serious charges of sexual molestation against him. These are only a few of the recent examples of crimes against women that has piled up pressure on the BJP Union government and state governments.
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