Jammu and Kashmir has a serious public accountability failure in the thousands of women and girls who remain missing. 

Since 2019, authorities have recorded 16,397 missing women and girls, including minors. Of these, 4,271 remain untraced. 

The figures, obtained by The Tribune through a Right to Information application, demand answers about the fate of those still missing and the effectiveness of the institutions responsible for finding them.

The authorities have traced 12,126 women and girls, leaving more than 26 per cent of the cases unresolved. The figures become more disturbing when separated by age. 

Of 1,804 minor girls reported missing between 2019 and August 2026, only 788 have been traced. The remaining 1,016 cases are unresolved. 

More than half of all missing minor girls remain untraced, raising serious concerns about the state’s ability to protect children from harm.

The record among adult women is also troubling. 

Of 14,593 women reported missing between 2019 and June 2026, 3,255 remain untraced. The annual figures show that the problem has persisted for years. 

Adult missing-person cases rose from 1,388 in 2019 to 2,242 in 2023, before reaching a high of 2,595 in 2025. Of those reported missing last year, 493 remained untraced.

The figures for minors show a similarly concerning trajectory. 

The number of missing girls rose from 150 in 2019 to 261 in 2023. It reached 289 in 2025, the highest annual figure in the period covered by the records. 

By August 2026, another 286 girls had been reported missing, of whom 158 remained untraced. The partial figures for this year already approach last year’s total.

These numbers do not establish why the women and girls went missing, and they cannot by themselves prove institutional negligence in individual cases. They do, however, expose the scale of unresolved cases and the need for a serious public accounting. 

The J&K Home Department has failed to provide district-wise details, leaving the public unable to assess where cases are concentrated or compare the response of local authorities. 

Such information is essential to identifying weaknesses in investigation and prevention.

The National Crime Records Bureau recorded 1,202 cases in Jammu and Kashmir in 2024 involving the kidnapping, abduction or inducement of women to compel them to marry under Section 87 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. 

These cases form a separate category, but they add to concerns about women’s freedom and protection.

The government should publish district-wise data, explain how investigators pursue unresolved cases and disclose what steps authorities take to locate missing minors. 

Families need timely information, sustained investigative effort and clear channels of accountability. A missing-person case cannot become an administrative statistic simply because months or years have passed. 

The state must account for the thousands who remain untraced and demonstrate, through measurable action, that finding them is a public priority.