A video featuring a man claiming that around 13.13 lakh girls and women went missing in India from the year 2019 to 2021 is being widely circulated on social media platforms. He further attributes this data to the Government of India. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: 13.13 lakh girls and women went missing in India between 2019-2021.
Fact: On 26 July 2023, in the Rajya Sabha, in response to a question about missing women, the government presented data on missing women and girls for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 based on NCRB annual reports. Upon careful examination of these reports, we observed that these figures are cumulative and include untraced women and girls from previous years as well. Moreover, these figures only account for missing cases and not the actual number of women and girls still missing and traced, as a significant number of individuals were traced every year. This implies that these figures do not represent the true number of missing (untraced) girls and women. A total of 2,03,893 females remained untraced by end of 2021. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet, leading us to several news reports (here, here & here) by prominent media houses. These reports stated that, according to the Union Home Ministry data tabled in Parliament in July 2023, a total of 10,61,648 women above 18 years and 2,51,430 girls below that age went missing between 2019 and 2021 across the country.
To learn more about this, we checked the Rajya Sabha reply by Ajay Kumar Mishra, Minister of State for Home Affairs, on 26 July 2023, regarding missing women in India. It is observed that the government, in its reply, has presented data on missing women and girls in the Rajya Sabha for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, sourced from NCRB data.
Subsequently, we checked the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and examined its annual reports on crime in India for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. According to these reports, in 2019, a total of 82,084 girls (below 18 years of age) and 3,42,168 women (above 18 years of age) were reported missing. In 2020, these figures were 79,233 and 3,44,222, respectively. In 2021, 90,113 girls and 3,75,058 women went missing. Upon careful observation of these reports, we noted that these figures are cumulative and include untraced women and girls from previous years. Moreover, these figures represent only reported missing cases and not the actual number of women and girls missing, as a significant number of individuals were traced every year. Therefore, these figures do not accurately represent the actual number of girls and women who are missing (untraced).
NCRB also records the number of women and girls traced every year. According to NCRB reports, in the year 2019, 2,48,937 girls and women were reported missing. Out of these, 1,62,939 were traced in the same year, 60,010 females were traced from previous years, and 1,99,490 females remained untraced by the end of 2019.
In the year 2020, 2,22,395 girls and women were reported missing. Out of these, 1,52,020 were traced in the same year, 72,023 females were traced from previous years, and 1,99,612 females remained untraced by the end of 2020.
In the year 2021, 2,65,481 girls and women were reported missing. Out of these, 1,90,421 were traced in the same year, 70,857 females were traced from previous years, and 2,03,893 females remained untraced by the end of 2021. From all this information, it is evident that 13.13 lakh girls and women did not go missing in India between 2019 and 2021.
To sum it up, about 2.03 Lakh girls and women remained untraced by end of 2021, not 13.13 Lakh.
