Ambadas Danve, the Leader of the Opposition in the legislative council, has penned a letter to Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister, to bring his attention to the concerning issue of a significant rise in the number of women disappearing in Maharashtra.
In his letter written on Wednesday, Danve said the trend of “missing women” runs contradictory to the state representing the progressive values of great social reformers like Shahu Maharaj, Dr B R Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule.
Danve called for immediate actions to address and prevent this issue, stating that an alarming average of 70 women of various age groups go missing daily in Maharashtra. He emphasized that it is crucial for the state government to step in. Danve highlighted the staggering statistics available with the state, revealing that within just the first three months of the year, a staggering 5,610 women and girls have gone missing. In January, there were 1,600 registered cases of missing women, which increased to 1,810 in February and further rose to 2,200 in March.
He said that in the country, Maharashtra is amongst the safest states for women, and if appropriate and timely measures are not taken, the state may lose this hard-earned tag.
Danve mentioned that the majority of the missing women fall within the age group of 16 to 35. While some of them are fortunate enough to either return or be located by the police, not all are as fortunate. He emphasized the need for a dedicated and efficient system specifically designed to tackle this issue.
A few days ago, Rupali Chakankar, the Chairperson of the State Women's Commission, also raised concerns about the rising cases of missing women and called for the establishment of a committee to investigate the matter. According to statistics provided by the State Home Department, there were 23,157 reported cases of missing women in 2020. Shockingly, this number increased to 37,278 in 2021. Out of these cases, approximately 40,000 women have been successfully located and traced.