Mumbai: Maharashtra recorded the highest number of crimes against children in India in 2024, with 24,171 cases registered during the year, while more than 2,000 girls were reported missing across the state, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data analysed by child rights organisation Child Rights and You (CRY).
The NCRB 2024 figures reveal a disturbing child protection crisis in Maharashtra, which also recorded the country’s highest number of kidnapping and abduction-related crimes against children at 12,994 cases.
The data further shows that Maharashtra reported 3,495 missing children during 2024, of whom 2,057 were girls and 1,438 were boys. Girls accounted for 57.1 per cent of all missing children cases in the state.
Even more concerning, 1,803 children remained untraced or unrecovered at the end of the year, including 1,042 girls.
Nationally, India recorded 1,87,702 crimes against children in 2024 — averaging more than 514 cases every day, over 21 every hour, and nearly one crime every three minutes.
The NCRB data also highlights a sharp long-term rise in crimes against children across the country. Cases nearly doubled over the last decade, rising from 89,423 in 2014 to 1,87,702 in 2024 — an increase of nearly 110 per cent.
The number of missing children nationally increased from 1,38,609 in 2023 to 1,47,175 in 2024, reflecting a 6.2 per cent rise within a year.
Girls continued to remain the most vulnerable category nationwide, accounting for 75.6 per cent of all missing children cases in India during 2024. Missing girls cases rose by 8.4 per cent, while missing boys cases marginally declined by 0.2 per cent.
Children aged between 16 and 18 years accounted for the largest share of missing children cases nationally, constituting 51.3 per cent of the total.
Among major states, Maharashtra ranked second in crime rate per lakh child population at 66.9, behind Madhya Pradesh which recorded 76.2.
The report also pointed to some improvement in tracing efforts. Maharashtra traced or recovered 3,737 missing children during 2024, including 2,123 girls and 1,611 boys, resulting in a recovery rate of 67.5 per cent.
However, child rights activists say the scale of the problem continues to expose serious gaps in prevention, monitoring, and protection systems.
“It is time we review and strengthen our existing monitoring and legal systems. Protection of the girl child has remained a priority for the last several years, but unfortunately the trends highlighted in the data tell a different story,” said Kreeanne Rabadi.
CRY said the findings underline the urgent need for stronger tracing systems, faster investigations, better inter-state coordination, and targeted interventions for adolescent girls, who continue to remain disproportionately vulnerable.
