BHOPAL: Over 23,000 women and girls have been missing for at least a month and up to 1.5 years in Madhya Pradesh.
The information was shared by the state government, while replying to the question on the issue by former home minister and senior Congress MLA Bala Bachchan during the ongoing monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha.
As per the written reply to the ex-home minister’s question, as on June 30, 2025, more than 21,000 women and 1900-plus girls were missing for more than a month in the state.
Surprisingly, those numbers included women and girls, who went missing between January and December 2024 and January and June 2025.
The detailed break up of the data shared by the government revealed that in as many as 30 districts the total number of missing women was more than 500.
These districts included state’s political and administrative capital Bhopal, commercial capital Indore, cultural and judicial capital Jabalpur, Sagar, Gwalior, Chhatarpur, Dhar and Rewa districts.
The other districts where more than 500 women and girls were missing since more than a month, include Shivpuri and Guna in the Gwalior-Chambal region, Khargone, Khandwa and Barwani in southwestern MP, the districts of Mandsaur, Ratlam, Neemuch, Dewas, Ujjain (CM Dr Mohan Yadav’s home district), Jhabua and Dhar in western MP.
Those districts also included Katni, Balaghat, Seoni and Mandla (all in tribal dominated Mahakoshal region), Raisen, Vidisha and Narmadapuram in central MP, besides Satna and Rewa districts of Vindhya region and Damoh, Sagar and Narsinghpur in Bundelkhand region.
The information shared by the state government also revealed that around 1500 persons accused in various cases of crime against women, among them rape and other sexual offences, besides those accused in abduction of girls and disappearance of women are yet to be tracked by the state police.
The accused on the run, included those booked for rape of women and minors.
While 292 accused were absconding in cases pertaining to rape with women, as many as 283 were on the run in cases of sexual assault/rape with minors.
As many as 443 others were on the run in cases of other sexual offences with women, while 167 persons, who were accused in similar cases of sexual offences with girls too, were untraceable.
This meant that as many as 575 accused in cases of rape with women and girls were still on the run, while 600 accused are on the run in cases related to other sexual offences with women and minors.
When it came to those accused, who are absconding in the cases pertaining to missing minors and those behind the disappearance of women, as many as 76 were on the run in cases of missing women, while 254 were absconding in cases of abduction of minor girls.
As per the state government’s reply in the Vidhan Sabha, more than 23,000 women and girls have been missing in Madhya Pradesh for more than a month as on June 30, 2025.
The missing 23,000-plus women and girls, include over 21,000 women and more than 1500 girls.
In at least 30 districts, the number of women and girls who remain untraced was more than 500.
Around 1500 accused in various cases of crime against women remain untraced.
Those on the run, included 575 in rape cases and 600 in cases of other sexual offences.
As many as 76 accused in cases in missing women and 254 accused in cases of missing girls too are untraced.