India's Kidnapping Crisis: Over 116,000 Cases in 2023 with Marriage and Elopement as Key Motives

Kidnapping for marriage continues to be a significant motive behind abduction cases across India. (Representational)

New Delhi:

The National Crime Records Bureau's latest report reveals that over 1.16 lakh kidnapping and abduction cases were documented nationwide in 2023. Among these, approximately 18,000 cases involved elopement, with nearly equal numbers of children (9,000) and adults (8,800).

Compared to 2022's figure of 1,07,588 cases, 2023 witnessed 1,13,564 registered kidnapping and abduction cases, marking a 5.6 percent increase year-on-year.

Delhi emerged as the most concerning region, recording 5,715 kidnapping and abduction cases with a crime rate of 26 percent per lakh population, the highest among all states and union territories. The capital's charge sheet rate for such cases remained dismally low at 6.6 percent.

Marriage remained the predominant motive for kidnapping, with 16,866 children and 15,790 adults abducted for this purpose. This was followed by kidnappings for "unlawful activities," accounting for 1,218 children and 740 adults.

When recovered alive, investigations revealed that 9,251 children and 8,853 adults had voluntarily left home for romantic relationships, while 9,161 children and 6,413 adults had departed due to their own decisions or after being reprimanded by parents.

Children comprised 70 percent of the total kidnapping victims across India in 2023. Of the 82,106 children kidnapped, 16,033 were boys, 66,072 were girls, and one was transgender. Among the 34,298 adult victims, 75 percent (26,042) were females, with 8,252 males and four transgender individuals.

Approximately 68 percent of all kidnapped persons were eventually recovered either alive or deceased, leaving 66,268 individuals still missing. In 2023, authorities recovered 140,813 kidnapped or abducted persons (31,837 males, 108,971 females, and 5 transgender individuals). Of these, 139,164 were found alive while 1,649 were discovered deceased.

The report notes that recovery statistics may include victims kidnapped in previous years who were located in 2023.

The judicial resolution of kidnapping and abduction cases remains ineffective. Only 37 percent of the 180,591 cases under investigation resulted in charge sheets, while merely 20.2 percent of the 351,090 cases before courts concluded with convictions.

In 19 metropolitan cities with populations exceeding one million, 15,039 kidnapping and abduction cases were registered in 2023, representing a 7.5 percent increase from 13,984 cases in 2022. From these metropolitan cases, authorities recovered 15,181 kidnapped individuals (4,914 males and 10,267 females), with 15,167 found alive and 14 discovered deceased.