The number of missing women and girls in the state in the last few months is worrisome and it needs to be investigated, said Rupali Chakankar, chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women. Chakankar has called on the Home Department to take immediate action to address the issue. She also suggested establishing a committee to investigate the reasons and submit an action-taken report to the Women’s Commission every 15 days.
Women in the state are being taken to Dubai and other Gulf countries after being lured with jobs, she said, adding that on reaching there, their passports and other documents are taken away. Efforts are on to find missing women, she said.
Chakankar proposed new system in this matter
In view of the work pressure on the police, Chakankar said that a new system should be made to work on this matter. There should be committees for women in workplaces with more than 10 workers. Nearly 82 women from Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad who have gone abroad are unable to have any contact with their families.
Recently, Special Inspector General (Women and Child Crime Prevention) Deepak Pandey registered a case against two agents at the Saki Naka police station. These agents had sent women abroad after luring them with jobs.
3,594 women missing from Maharashtra from Jan 2023- March 2023
According to Chakankar, a total of 3,594 women have gone missing from the state between January and March 2023. The commission has been following up on these missing cases with the respective police stations and the state ministry.
Chakankar said that the Ministry of Women and Child Development had set up a committee to deal with these cases, but there is not a single police officer in this committee.
“There is a need to set aside politics in this matter and need to work together. To address the problems of women, there were orders to set up ‘Bharosa’ committees in every police station, but no such committee was formed,” she added.
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