Former CM Kamal Nath asks MP govt to form STF to trace missing children and women

Bhopal, Aug 11 (IANS) Raising apprehension over the number of missing children and women from Madhya Pradesh, veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, on Monday, demanded the state government to form a special task force of police to trace the missing persons.

Kamal Nath (76), who is among the senior-most members in the Assembly, citing a media report said that more than 58,0000 children have gone missing in past four years from the state, which is alarming and concerning.

The veteran Congress leader, who has been in politics for more than 45 years and had served as Union Minister on several occasions, suggested that a separate Special Task Force (STF) of Madhya Pradesh Police should be set up for this purpose.

"Such a large number of missing children is a stain on the forehead of the state's law and order system. If we can't keep our children safe, how will we secure the future of our state. I demand the state government to form a special task force to trace the missing children," Nath said in a statement issued to the press.

Citing media report, the former Chief Minister claimed that out of more than 58,000 children missing for the last few years, 47,000 of them are girl children while 11,000 were boys.

The highest missing complaints have been registered in Indore, the cleanest and the largest city in Madhya Pradesh.

Among the police stations in Indore, where children are going missing, Banganga police station was the highest with around 450 children missing for the last four years.

Three other police stations in Indore -- Lasudia (250), Azad Nagar (178) and Dwarka Puri (168) have reported the highest number of children missing.

"In today's era of artificial intelligence and advanced technology, finding children is not an impossible task. If there is strong willpower and firm determination, many of these missing children could be found and reunited with their parents," Nath said.

Earlier, in a written reply in the Assembly, the Madhya Pradesh government had revealed that more than 23,000 women and nearly 1,900 girls were missing from (till June 30, 2025).

The detailed breakup of the data shared by the government revealed that in as many as 30 districts, the total number of missing women was more than 500.

These districts included state's political and administrative capital Bhopal, commercial capital Indore, cultural and judicial capital Jabalpur, Sagar, Gwalior, Chhatarpur, Dhar and Rewa districts.

--IANS

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