Between 2019 and 2021, over 100,000 women aged 18 and above went missing in Maharashtra. The number of missing persons cases has been steadily increasing over the years, with a notable rise in the cases of girls and women. In response to this alarming trend, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court. The PIL seeks a directive for the state to initiate immediate investigations to locate the missing women and address the growing crisis.
This PIL has been filed by Shahaji Jagtap, a 49-year-old resident of Sangli, former soldier, and government employee. “A girl or woman going missing or untraced for years makes the family members…suffer silently,” states the petition by Jagtap.
Shahaji Jagtap discovered the alarming statistics while searching for his own daughter. Over 100,000 women aged 18 and above, and 12,000 girls below 18, have gone missing in Maharashtra during the same period. Jagtap’s daughter, a TYBSc student, went missing on December 4, 2021. On December 15, 2021, she met the police superintendent with a changed name and submitted an affidavit of her conversion to another religion and marriage. Jagtap and his wife met their daughter for hardly two minutes at the Sanjay Nagar police station and have since lost all contact with her.
While searching for his missing daughter, Jagtap came across this distressing information. His petition, filed through advocate Manjiri Parasnis, stated that as his daughter was a legal adult, “the police washed off their hands.” He emphasized that although a girl being of legal age may resolve a legal matter, it does not address the emotional trauma and suffering experienced by the family and relatives.
The "trauma and shock" experienced by Jagtap compelled him to investigate further and uncover how other families were suffering similarly. He realized that the issue of missing women and girls in Maharashtra was not an isolated incident but rather an increasing trend, highlighting a significant failure in the legal and social systems to prevent such disappearances. Jagtap pointed out that the Supreme Court’s November 2002 directions on the search for missing girls and women were not followed when he approached the local police.
His petition suggested that there is a possibility that missing women and girls are being exploited for wrongful or criminal purposes. Jagtap also criticized the state departments of home and women and child welfare for handling the issue "casually, carelessly, and negligently." He has urged the high court to monitor the investigations of missing cases and call for status reports.
The PIL is listed for hearing on July 31.