Bhopal: Twenty-six girls have gone missing from a children’s home, allegedly run without a government permit, in Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal, media reports said.

Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged the state government to take action in the matter.

"The case of the disappearance of 26 girls from a children's home operating without permission in Parwalia police station area of Bhopal has come to my notice," Chouhan wrote in a post on X.

"Considering the seriousness and sensitivity of the matter, I urge the government to take cognizance and take immediate action," he added.

On reaching the Anchal Girls Hostel, located approximately 20 km from Bhopal, the Child Protection Commission team discovered that the NGO was in the process of rescuing children and housing them in an unauthorized children's facility, reported NDTV.

The report said quoting a local that the home had been operational for four to five years, adding that outsiders were not allowed inside but the girls living in the home were sometimes taken to market, according to the report.

A woman, which the local referred to as ‘madam’ used to escort the girls to school and market.

He also said that two to three vehicles used to come often at midnight and then return again at 2 am-3 am in the night.

There are allegations that girls at the hostel were compelled to follow Christian rituals. Official records indicate that the centre has 68 registered children, yet only 41 girls have been found. These girls came from Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Jharkhand, said the report.

Priyank Kanoongo, the head of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), has communicated with the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh, Veera Rana, requesting a report within a seven-day period.

A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed at the Parwaliya Sadak Police Station in Bhopal under the relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the NDTV report said.

The Congress has slammed the state government over the disappearance of girls.

The BJP-led government in the state has said that the matter is under investigation and Congress should leave politics and support the government in the probe.