Odisha Records 73% Jump In Missing Girls In 2022

Bhubaneswar: Odisha recorded a sharp rise of around 73 per cent in the number of minor girls who went missing during 2022. The number of missing minor girls jumped from 2,452 in 2021 to 4,250 in 2022.

This information was given by Minister of State for Home Tusharkanti Behera in the state Assembly.

The number of minor boys who went missing went up to 507 in 2022 from 219 in 2021, registering around 57 per cent increase, the Minister said in a written reply on Monday to a query by BJD MLA from Khandapada, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik.

The data shared by the Minister also showed a steep increase in the number of women above 18 years of age who disappeared in the state. As many as 9,820 cases relating to missing women were registered in 2022, the number stood at 7,316 in 2021.

The Minister informed that a total of 2,386 missing girls, 342 boys and 3,476 women were traced and rescued successfully in 2022. Many of the traffickers of girls and women have also been convicted, he said.

However, the reply had no information about the areas from where the missing women and children were rescued after being traced. The circumstances in which the children and women went missing were also not mentioned.

The data further showed that in the last five years between 2018 and 2022, a total of 13,906 girls, 2093 boys and 43,846 women were reported missing in the state. Of them, 10,115 girls, 1691 boys and 17,599 women were rescued.