Over the past few years, India has witnessed a sharp increase in the reports of missing women across the whole country. Every month, about 35,000 women are reported missing in the country, with an estimated 1,157 women reported missing every day.
According to the reports of National Crime Bureau Records (NCRB), 422,439 women were reported missing across the whole India in 2019. Maharashtra was among the states that reported the highest number of 67,746 cases, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 65,434 cases, West Bengal with 64,382 cases, Rajasthan 22,375 cases, Delhi 27,310 cases, Odisha 21,569 cases, and Chhattisgarh had reported 19,041 cases.
According to the NCRB data, 222,949 missing women were traced in 2019, accounting for about 52.8 percent of the total missing cases. Despite this, 42.8 percent women are still reported missing. There were a total of 384,685 missing cases reported across the country in 2018. In 2019, however, the cases have increased by 9.8 percent. In 2018, 209,852 women were traced and recovered, accounting for about 54.6 percent of the 384,685 cases.
In 2018, the highest number of cases reported was from West Bengal as it reported 64,382 cases. It was followed by Maharashtra with 61,913 cases, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 55,358 cases, and Delhi with 32,302 cases. Other states had also reported a significant number of missing reports with Rajasthan reporting 17,507 cases, Chhattisgarh 16,578 cases, and Odisha 12,861 cases.
So far only 50 percent of the missing women have been traced across India, whereas the other 50 percent of women still remain untraced. The cases have been continuously rising and by the year 2019, almost 199,490 women across India still remain untraceable.