J&K To Seek Details Of Missing Women From MHA

Srinagar- The Union Territory administration is likely to start an investigation to know the whereabouts of over 10,000 women, who have gone missing from Jammu and Kashmir in just three years.

The shocking revelation about 9,765 missing women from J&K was made by the Minister of State (MoS) Home Ajay Mishra in Rajya Sabha last month. Mishra informed the house that from 2019-2021, there were 1148 cases of missing girls below the age of 18 and 8,617 women aged above 18 who have disappeared.

While giving yearly data, the MoS Home stated that 355 girls and 2,738 women went missing in the year 2019, followed by 350 girls and 2,701 women in 2020 and 443 girls and 3,178 women in 2021.

Sheetal Nanda, Commissioner Secretary to Government’s Social Welfare Department told Kashmir Observer that she will seek details of missing women from the Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) and take up the matter further.

 “We will be working on it, in coordination with Home (MHA). We will ask them to share the details and we will see the basis on which this report was made,” Nanda told Kashmir Observer.

The report sent shock waves across the valley with people demanding a thorough probe in the case. Political parties like National Conference and Aam Aadmi Party also staged protest demonstrations in this capital city seeking whereabouts of missing women.

However, a senior police officer told Kashmir Observer that most of the cases are related to lovers eloping and then marrying on their own without letting their parents know.

“Whenever any girl is missing from home, their parents register a missing complaint in the concerned police station. We trace them and they reveal that they had fled on their own choice and have married,” said the officer, wishing not to be named.

In many cases, she said, even if the girl returns home after eloping with her boyfriend, the case still goes to the court of law and remains open in the police station.

The officer further revealed that the figures revealed on the floor of the house were eight months old and most of the cases have been disposed off or either closed.

“This data was submitted in December 2022. Most of these cases have been closed. So, these numbers are not true as on this date,” she added.

Meanwhile the Government of India said that they have taken a number of initiatives for the safety of women across the country.

“The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 was enacted for effective deterrence against sexual offences. Further, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 was enacted to prescribe even more stringent penal provisions including death penalty for rape of girls below the age of 12 years. The Act also inter-alia mandates completion of investigation and filing of charge sheet in rape cases in 2 months and trials to be completed in 2 months,” MoS home said in Rajya Sabha.

“Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single internationally recognized number (112) based system for all emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has launched a cyber-crime reporting portal on 20th September, 2018 for citizens to report obscene content besides that MHA has launched the “National Database on Sexual Offenders” (NDSO) on 20th September 2018 to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Notably, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha said that his government has adopted a policy of zero tolerance for crime against women and is committed to punish the criminal networks or individuals behind human trafficking.

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