1 lakh women reported missing in Maharashtra in 3 years; PIL seeks police to trace
1 lakh women reported missing in Maharashtra in 3 years; PIL seeks police to trace
The plea states that if the issue is taken seriously, it may unearth the exploitation of women or even forceful conversion into any religion.
July 26, 2024
According to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Bombay High Court (HC), about 1 lakh girls have gone missing between 2019 and 2021. The petition, filed by a former soldier from Sangli who currently works in the government treasury department.
The 49-year-old petitioner, Sahaji Jagtap’s daughter, who was studying in the third year of her Bachelor of Science course from Sangli, had gone missing in December 2021.
As per reports, Jagtap registered a case with the Sanjay Nagar police station in Sangli, but the police were not able to trace his daughter. While Jagtap was looking for her, he was informed that his daughter had married a man and was converted to Islam.
The plea stated that he was able to meet his daughter only for two minutes and, to date, does not know what led her to break all ties with the family.
Jagtap stated that since his daughter was not a minor, the police made no effort to bring her home. Further, the plea states that if the issue is taken seriously, it may unearth the exploitation of women or even forceful conversion into any religion.
During this time, Jagtap came across a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which mentioned that 35,990 in 2019, 30,089 in 2020, and 34,763 in 2021, girls above the age of 18 remained untraced for years.
The PIL also seeks the continuous monitoring of the investigation by the court.
The plea will be heard on July 30 before the bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar.
