Nearly half of Maharashtra's missing women between 2021 and 2026 left home due to love relationships, while family problems were the leading reason among men.
Fadnavis said only a small share of missing and kidnapping cases involved abduction, with 93 per cent of missing persons eventually returning home.
The chief minister also highlighted improvements in Maharashtra's conviction rate and compliance with BNS-mandated criminal investigation procedures.
Nearly half of the women reported missing in Maharashtra between 2021 and 2026 had voluntarily left their homes due to romantic relationships, while family problems emerged as the leading reason for men doing the same, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the state legislature, citing data on missing persons in the state.
According to Indian Express, Fadnavis presented data covering missing persons, kidnapping cases, conviction rates and the implementation of provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). He said that in a majority of cases involving missing women, the individuals had left home voluntarily rather than being abducted.
Fadnavis said that 46.32 per cent of women left home for “love affairs”, 20 per cent due to “family problems” and two per cent because of “mental stress”. In comparison, 32 per cent of men left their homes due to family problems, while 9.12 per cent did so for “love”, Indian Express reported.
The chief minister also provided a category-wise breakdown to show that only a small proportion of “missing” cases involved abduction, including instances where a minor had been reported missing.
“When it came to women, only 5.25 per cent of the total missing women were abducted while 4.47 per cent of kidnapping cases were related to abduction. In the rest of these cases, the victims voluntarily fled from home due to the reasons mentioned above,” Fadnavis said, presenting data from 2021-2026.
The issue of rising cases of missing children in Maharashtra has previously been raised by parties such as the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Indian Express reported.
Between 2021 and 2026, 2,34,811 women and 2,17,758 men went missing in Maharashtra, with 93 per cent of them returning home, Fadnavis said.
Speaking about the conviction rate in the state, Fadnavis said that as of May 2026, the conviction rate stood at 52.6 per cent, up from 44.2 per cent last year and 9.4 per cent in 2011–12.
“The conviction rate was low due to earlier laws but with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) coming in, we aim to reach a conviction rate of 70 per cent,” the CM said.
According to Indian Express, Fadnavis also provided details about Maharashtra's compliance with changes mandated under the BNS. He said that in 90 per cent of cases, e-sakshya, under which witness testimony is recorded on camera to prevent witnesses from going hostile during trial, had been followed.
He added that forensic vans visited the scene of crime in 91.9 per cent of serious offences, in compliance with the BNS mandate.
Fadnavis further said that chargesheets had been filed within the mandated 60 or 90 days in 50 per cent of cases. In rape cases, he said, chargesheets were filed within 60 days in 90 per cent of cases.
