Aarohi Dhumale
On Thursday, 22nd August 2024, the Bombay High Court issued a notice to the State government while hearing a Public interest Litigation (PIL) which sought to trace over 1 lakh missing girls in Maharashtra.
The PIL was being heard by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar. The PIL was filed by Shahji Jagtap, a resident of Sangli who is a former Indian Army soldier and is currently working as an accounts clerk in the government treasury. He filed the PIL through Advocate Manjiri Parasnis in order to seek direction to the state police to trace over one lakh women who went missing in the state between 2019 and 2021. He is also personally involved in this case, as his own daughter went missing in December 2021. He went to the local police station several times, only to find out that no efforts were being made to locate her. After some days, the police informed him that she had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man. He was permitted to meet her briefly at the police station, but he is still unaware of what caused her to take such drastic steps. This incident has caused severe emotional distress to his wife to such an extent that she is undergoing medical treatment. He keeps questioning as to where he and his wife went wrong, as their daughter has cut all ties with their family.
While searching for his daughter, he came across the data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs on March 14, 2023, which stated that 100,842 women aged 18 and above were reported to be missing in Maharashtra from 2019 to 2021. He informed that in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the number of children reported missing in Maharashtra was 4,562; 3,356 and 4,129, respectively, shedding light on a grave crisis. The States’s mechanisms are grossly inadequate for tracing and finding these individuals. He emphasized that there is little coordination between various departments of the State like the police and women’s welfare departments. He referred to the Supreme Court’s guidelines laid down in the Hori Lal v. Commissioner of Police, Delhi and Ors (W.P. (Cri) No.610 of 1996) judgment for tracing missing children. These directives are not being implemented effectively in Maharashtra.
The Court said that there might be various reasons for the disappearance of children and women, but it is the State’s duty to trace and protect them, and if needed, 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 for which all authorities, including all government departments, police, railways, and others need to work together,” the Bench said. The Court directed the State government to file detailed affidavits within four weeks, outlining the measures in place to trace and safeguard missing women. The Maharashtra Commission for Women (MCW) and the Director General of the Government Railway Police (GRP) were also called upon to submit their responses regarding steps taken to tackle human trafficking.
The next hearing on the matter will take place on 4th October, 2024.