(UCA News) — When more than 1.3 million women vanish over three years without sparking sustained national outrage, something fundamental has broken in the collective conscience.

Between 2019 and 2021, official government records documented 1.31 million missing girls and women across India — roughly 1,200 disappearing every single day.

These are not wartime casualties or natural disaster victims. They are daughters, mothers and sisters who slipped through the cracks of peacetime governance, leaving families trapped in agonizing uncertainty.

For the Church in India, this is not merely a distressing statistic demanding compassionate prayer. It is a moral summons requiring an urgent institutional response.

The missing women crisis exposes systemic failures that directly intersect with Christian ministry — poverty, gender inequality, trafficking networks, and the exploitation of vulnerable communities where churches have historically maintained deep roots and trust.

When marginalized populations bearing these burdens disappear en masse, the Church cannot remain a passive observer offering only sympathy from the sidelines.

The geographical patterns tell a darker story than random disappearances. Maharashtra recorded 178,000 missing persons during this period, functioning simultaneously as a source and destination for trafficking routes.

Delhi’s numbers are equally chilling: in January’s first 15 days alone, 800 people vanished from the capital — more than 50 a day — despite ubiquitous surveillance infrastructure. These are not mysterious evaporations but organized criminal networks operating with disturbing efficiency while law enforcement largely looks away.

Here lies the institutional betrayal that should particularly concern church leaders.........

© Eurasia Review