The National Human Rights Commission on Monday told the Delhi government and police to respond to a media report saying that 807 persons went missing in the national capital between January 1 and 15.

The human rights panel, taking suo motu cognisance of a media report published on February 5, said that if the contents of the article are true, they raise “serious issues of violation of human rights”.

The commission issued notices to the Delhi chief secretary and the police commissioner, and sought a report on the matter within two weeks.

Last week, PTI quoted official data from the Delhi Police as saying that of the 807 persons who went missing in the first 15 days of 2026, women and girls comprised 509, while 298 were men. Of the total number, 191 were minors, and 616 were adults.

The report added that 235 of the missing persons had been traced so far.

The news agency said that 24,508 persons were reported missing in Delhi in 2025, with women accounting for over 60% of the cases at 14,870.

Taking note of the articles, the Delhi Police on Friday alleged that a “paid promotion” was behind reports about the purported surge in the number of missing girls in the national capital.

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

A day earlier, the police said that there was no need to panic about “rumours being spread” about persons, especially children, going missing.

The authorities also said that there had been a decline in the number of cases of missing persons in the first 15 days this year as compared to the same period last year.

The police, however, did not say how many missing person cases were recorded in the first 15 days of 2025.