More than 68,000 women and girls remain untraced in Madhya Pradesh out of over 2.74 lakh reported missing between 2020 and January 2026, government figures tabled in the state Assembly reveal, exposing persistent gaps in tracking, law enforcement coordination and long-term protection efforts.

Official data presented by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly this week paints a stark picture: between 2020 and 28 January 2026, a total of 2,74,311 women and girls were reported missing across the state. Of these, 2,35,977 have been traced, yet 68,334 – including tens of thousands of women and girls – remain unaccounted for.

According to the government numbers, the disappearance rate averages at about 130 women and girls every day – roughly 3,700 per month and around 45,000 per year. This pattern has persisted over several years, with recorded cases rising from more than 30,000 in 2020 to over 40,000 in subsequent years – signalling a deeply entrenched issue rather than an isolated surge.

Senior police officials reiterated in the session that every reported missing case remains open and under active investigation until concrete information about an individual’s whereabouts is obtained. They added that rescue efforts, inter-district coordination and intelligence sharing continue, albeit with varying levels of success.

Lawmakers from both government and opposition benches pressed for clarity on the mechanisms used to trace missing persons, the timelines involved, and gaps identified in the system. Questions were particularly sharp around the reasons many individuals are traced only after long delays, or not at all.

Mapping The Crisis: Where And Why

The new figures break down geographical clusters and reveal troubling trends. Major urban centres such as Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Ujjain consistently report high numbers of missing women and girls. Meanwhile, several tribal and border districts also show significant disparities between reported and traced cases – suggesting vulnerabilities rooted in economic migration, inadequate surveillance, and socio-cultural stresses.

Experts point to a confluence of factors driving the crisis. These include:

• Migration pressures: Young women moving for work or education in the absence of robust support systems.
• Domestic and family disputes, including runaway cases due to marriage or familial breakdown.
• Trafficking and organised exploitation, especially where transport networks and unregulated intermediaries operate unchecked.
• Weak early intervention systems, where missing reports may be delayed or improperly documented.

Civil society members attending the Assembly session warned that without stronger grassroots monitoring especially at the community and school level – many cases could slip into invisibility before any effective response is mounted.

Some critics also pointed to technology gaps: inconsistent use of CCTV, lack of rapid police response teams in remote areas, and under-utilisation of integrated databases that could help track movement across districts and state borders.

Notably, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has previously taken suo motu cognisance of alleged police inaction in tracing missing girls – such as a six-year-old in Bhopal who remained unlocated more than two weeks after her disappearance highlighting concerns about the human rights dimensions of such cases.

Government Responses And Initiatives

The state government has defended its approach and released details of ongoing initiatives aimed at reversing the trend. These include:

• Dedicated women’s help desks and police stations tasked with missing cases and faster escalation.
• Special search operations and periodic reviews at police headquarters.
• Awareness and community vigilance programmes designed to educate families on early reporting.
• Database improvement efforts to integrate local, state and national records for faster tracing.

Officials also said the cases are not officially closed unless verified evidence of safety or location is obtained, countering criticism that merely “tracing” a person in databases equates to rescue.

Despite these assurances, opposition leaders argued that many of the traced cases were rediscoveries instances where individuals had returned home but data lag meant their status was not promptly updated, signalling administrative inefficiencies that hamper accurate reporting and response. =

Civil society advocates have also called for specialised anti-trafficking cells in every district, stronger inter-state coordination, and the establishment of rapid-response units capable of acting within the first critical days of a disappearance often the most decisive window for safe recovery.

Beyond Statistics: The Human Toll

For families, each number represents an enduring absence. Parents and siblings grapple with endless uncertainty; communities worry about safety, especially where disappearances cluster without clear explanations. Human rights lawyers warn that missing cases, particularly where young girls are involved, can rapidly escalate into deeper exploitation from forced labour and trafficking to sexual abuse and illegal servitude.

This grim reality underscores the need not just for better police procedures, but for community awareness, educational empowerment of women, economic opportunities, and stronger social security nets that reduce vulnerabilities to coercion or runaways.

The Logical Indian’s Perspective

The unfolding crisis in Madhya Pradesh is not merely about statistics it is a reflection of deeper societal fractures and systemic gaps that leave women and girls vulnerable. Every disappearance is a story of fear, waiting, and unanswered questions for families and communities.

The Logical Indian believes that safety should be a right, not a privilege. Addressing this issue demands more than police data it requires compassion, community involvement, gender-sensitive policy planning, and unwavering political accountability.

Structural challenges, from early reporting to inter-state intelligence sharing, must be dismantled; prevention must take precedence over reaction.