53 Girls, Women Go Missing Every Hour

Mizoram and Lakshadweep reported not a single case of girls and women missing during 2019

NEW DELHI, July 27 (The CONNECT) – Nearly every minute, a girl or a woman goes missing in India.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has recorded a total of 4,65,171 women and girls who have gone missing across all the States and Union Territories in 2019 alone accounting for 3,75,058 women and 90,113 girls under18 years of age.

This works out 1,274.44 a day and 53 an hour.

This startling information appeared in the Rajya Sabha records as a “written reply” given by Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra.

West Bengal has the dubious record of the largest number of girls – 13,278 – missing while Maharashtra has its own record of the country’s maximum number of 56,498 women missing.

Mizoram and Lakshadweep reported not a single case of girls and women missing. Arunachal had just one girl and one woman missing.

Police and Public Order are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibilities to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens including investigation and prosecution of crime against women rest with the respective State Governments. The State Governments are competent to deal with such offences under the extant provisions of laws. However, the Government of India has taken a number of initiatives for safety of women across the country, the minister’s response said.

Among the steps the Centre initiated are the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 was enacted to prescribe death penalty for rape of girls below   the  age  of  12  years.  The   Act  also   inter-alia   mandates completion of investigation and filing of charge sheet in rape cases in 2 months and trials to be completed in 2 months.

Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single   internationally recognized number (112) based system for all emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress.

The other initiatives are:

1. Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single   internationally recognized number (112) based system for all emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress.
2. Using technology to aid smart policing and safety management, Safe City Projects have been sanctioned in first Phase in 8 cities (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai).
3. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has launched a cyber-crime reporting portal on 20th September, 2018 for citizens to report obscene content.
4. MHA has launched the “National Database on Sexual Offenders” (NDSO) on 20th September 2018 to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies.
5. MHA has launched an online analytic tool “Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences” for Police on 19th February 2019 to facilitate them to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.
6. In order to improve investigation, MHA has taken steps to strengthen DNA analysis units in Central and State Forensic Science Laboratories. This includes setting up of State-of-the-Art DNA Analysis Unit in Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh. MHA has also sanctioned setting-up and upgrading of DNA Analysis units in State Forensic Science Laboratories after gap analysis and demand assessment.
7. MHA has notified guidelines for collection of forensic evidence in sexual   assault cases and the standard composition in a sexual assault evidence collection kit. To facilitate adequate capacity in manpower, training and skill building programs have been undertaken for Investigation Officers, Prosecution Officers and Medical Officers. Bureau of Police Research & Development has distributed 14,950 Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits to States/ UTs as orientation kit as part of training.
8. MHA has also approved two projects for setting up and strengthening of Women Help Desks in Police Stations and Anti-Human Trafficking Units in all districts of the country.
9. In addition to the above-mentioned measures, the Ministry of Home Affairs have issued advisories from time to time with a view to help the States/UTs to deal with crimes against women, which are available at www.mha.gov.in.
10. In addition to this, the Ministry of Women & Child Development has set up 733 One Stop Centres in the country. These centres provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence and in distress, under one roof and provide an integrated range of services including medical aid, legal aid, temporary shelter, police assistance, psycho-social counselling.