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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court has issued notice in a PIL seeking direction to trace 1 lakh missing girls in Maharashtra. 

The division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar said it was the duty of the authorities to trace the girls.

"There may be various causes of children and women going missing. However, it is the duty of the state to trace them and protect them and if necessary give them safe custody. One of the reasons for such a staggering number of missing children and women, possibly is the menace of human trafficking," the court said. 

The high court has issued notice to the State Government, Government Railway Police on measures taken to check human trafficking cases and a reply from the Maharashtra State Commission for Women.

The PIL, filed by Sahaji Jagtap, a former soldier from Sangli, states that his daughter went missing in 2019 while she was in her third year of college.

Jagtap filed a complaint with the police, but his daughter could not be traced. Subsequently, he discovered that his daughter had converted to Islam and married a man.

He added that he could meet his daughter only for two minutes and does not know why she broke all ties with her family.

Jagtap then came across a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, according to which 35,990 girls went missing in 2019, 30,089 in 2020, and 34,763 in 2021.

The petition also stated that despite certain directions by the Supreme Court in 2002, no effort was made to trace the missing girls.

The petition seeks a direction to be issued to the investigating agencies to file a status report on the action being taken where complaints were filed concerning missing girls.

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.