‘Hype pushed through paid promotion’: Delhi Police clarify missing children data, warn of action

The Delhi Police on Friday said the recent panic around a supposed surge in missing girls in the national capital was being fuelled through paid promotions and warned that creating fear for monetary gain would invite strict legal action.

After tracking multiple leads, the police said there was no factual basis to claims of a sudden rise in missing children, adding that misleading narratives were being deliberately amplified. Officials stressed that misrepresentation of data to trigger public alarm would not be tolerated.

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After following a few leads, we discovered that the hype around the surge in missing girls in Delhi is being pushed through paid promotion. Creating panic for monetary gains won’t be tolerated, and we’ll take strict action against such individuals.

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— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) February 6, 2026

The clarification follows growing public anxiety and political reactions over social media claims suggesting a sharp increase in missing children, particularly girls, in Delhi.

Police refute spike claims, say data has remained stable for years

The Delhi Police had on Thursday taken to the social media platform X to directly counter the claims. “We appeal to citizens not to fall prey to rumours about a sudden increase in cases of missing children. While refuting such claims, we also warn rumour mongers of strict legal action for spreading unnecessary fear by misrepresenting data. The safety of every child is paramount for the Delhi Police. The Delhi Police is committed to providing 24×7 service and locating missing/abducted children and reuniting them with their families expeditiously,” the force said.

The police said official records show no abnormal rise in missing-person cases and that overall figures have remained broadly stable for nearly a decade, despite Delhi’s growing population.

What the January numbers actually show

The clarification came after reports citing Delhi Police data claimed that 807 people (509 women and girls, and 298 men) went missing between January 1 and January 15, averaging 54 cases a day. The figures also showed that 191 of those reported missing were minors, while 616 were adults.

However, police said the data was being read without context. According to official records, 1,777 missing persons were reported in January 2026, a number the force said was lower than both the monthly average and comparable periods in previous years.

In 2025, Delhi recorded 24,508 missing persons, averaging 2,042 cases per month. January 2025 alone had seen 1,786 cases, making the January 2026 figure proportionately lower.

Long-term trends and recovery rate

Police data further showed that annual missing-person figures have hovered between 23,000 and 24,000 since 2016, even as the city’s population expanded rapidly.

Delhi Police cautioned against year-on-year or short-period comparisons without accounting for how missing-person detection works. Officials said such cases are time-dependent and cumulative in nature.

A total of 1,80,805 missing persons were traced and reunited with their families between 2016 and 2025, translating into an overall recovery rate of about 77 per cent. Police said 85 per cent of missing-person cases registered in 2016 were traced over a nine-year period, while nearly two-thirds of cases reported in 2025 were resolved within the same year.

Officials said the recovery rate has been driven by sustained efforts such as Operation Milap and the wider use of technology, including AI-enabled facial recognition tools.