AHMEDABAD: As per official statistics, more than 40,000 women went missing in Gujarat over a five-year period. A total of 7,105 women went missing in 2016, 7,712 in 2017, 9,246 in 2018, and 9,268 in 2019, a data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which showed earlier was reported in media

On the contrary, On Monday, May 8, Gujarat Police refuted false rumours and social media posts that claimed more than 40,000 women went missing in Gujarat between 2016 and 20. According to the law enforcement agency, out of the 41,621 women who went missing, 39,497, or around 95% of the ladies, were found and reunited with their families by the Gujarat Police.

Gujarat Police claimed in a series of tweets that they had located and reunited families with missing women who had gone missing between 2016 and 2020, a period of five years. The police further stated that the information came from the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), New Delhi, which was used as evidence by numerous media outlets and online users to support their allegation that 40,000 women were missing in Gujarat.

"The inquiry has shown that women disappear because of family conflicts, elopements, failures in exams, etc. The Gujarat Police tweeted, "However, the investigation into missing person cases has not revealed episodes of trafficking for sexual exploitation, organ trafficking, etc.," apparently in response to social media users who targeted Gujarat and made comparisons to claims made in the film The Kerala Story that over 32,000 women had disappeared in the state and may have fallen prey to Islamic radicalization in order to join ISIS.

The Gujarat Police also tweeted that local police conduct an inquiry into the missing persons case in accordance with the Supreme Court of India's rules and that the information is sent onto a specific website so that other state police units can track for missing people as part of the coordination at the federal level.

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