A Comparative Study on Legal Demography of Missing Children in India

Children constitute a nation’s true asset. Children under the age of 18 years form a considerable percentage of India's population, which imparts a huge responsibility for the nation. Every day in electronic media as well as in print media, we can see at least one news story that a boy or a girl is missing from his/her parents. There is no greater vacuum, no greater void than the helplessness felt by parents whose children have gone missing. This research paper examines the status and trends of missing children in India using secondary data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the period 2020–2024. This study shows that there are a total of 643243 children missing during the period of time. The data of the missing children of the current and past years show that 232,647 (36.2%) children are still missing and are untraced, and gender-wise analysis reveals that 74.21% of the total missing children during the study period were girls, 25.78% were boys and 0.01% were transgender children. The traced children are 410596. The study analyses year-wise trends in missing, traced and untraced children and further examines gender-wise, state-wise, regional and Union Territory-wise variations in missing children. It also includes crimes against children recorded under sections 363, 363A, 364, 364A, 365, 366, 366A, 367, 368, and 369 of the IPC in the states of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, which recorded the highest cases under said sections. This study helps us in understanding the magnitude of missing cases across India. This will serve as a great resource for policymakers and law enforcement alike.