AHMEDABAD: After The New Indian Express report on 41,621 missing women in Gujarat went viral, Gujarat Police in defence of the state government issued a clarification on social media that 39,497 have since then returned.
It is, however, a self-admission that 2,124 women are still missing and the police are unable to trace them. Significantly, the police have not contended the numbers in the news report.
The state government has not shared facts and figures for 2021 and 2022 which calls for more clarification.
“Out of 41,621 women gone missing during the period 2016-20 as per the data published in Crime in India-2020, 39,497 of the missing women have been traced and they are united with their families. The said information is also part of Crime in India, 2020,” Gujarat Police tweeted.
“The investigation has revealed that women go missing due to family disputes, elopement, failure in examinations, etc,” it added.
According to the TNIE report based on the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, 7,105 women went missing in 2016, 7,712 in 2017, 9,246 in 2018, and 9,268 in 2019.
In 2020, 8,290 women were reported to have gone missing. The total number adds up to 41,621.
Incidentally, as per a statement made by the state government in the Assembly in 2021, 4,722 women went missing in just one year (2019-20) in Ahmedabad and Vadodara.