Revision as of 01:12, 7 September 2017

The position in the states: annual statistics

2012: UP most unsafe place for children

The Times of India 2013/06/15

The Times of India

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh topped the list of crimes against children with 15.8% such cases reported from the state in 2012, according to the latest National Crime Record Bureau report. It ranked second in crimes against women.

Madhya Pradesh is ranked second with 13.5% cases of crimes reported against children. Delhi, Maharashtra and Bihar are ranked third (11.7%), fourth (9%) and fifth (7.6%). West Bengal is one of the safest states for children with only 4.5% of total cases against kids reported from there.

There is some good news though for UP, as it no longer tops the list of major crimeprone states. Among the bigger and populous states, Delhi, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are as crime prone-now.

“UP has to face some many unique dimensions of crime because of its vast population and area. Still, it has been our endeavor to produce the best results. The crime trends of 2012 are encouraging, but there is still scope for improvement,” ADG Law & Order and Crime Arun Kumar said.

West Bengal tops the list of crimes against women, while Delhi has the highest rate of violent crimes in the country. Madhya Pradesh reported maximum rape cases (3,394), followed by West Bengal (2,040) and UP (1,951). TNN

Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO)

2015: cases pending in children courts under POCSO

Pradeep Thakur, 47% of all pending POCSO cases are from Maharashtra , August 2, 2017: The Times of India

Cases pending in children courts under POCSO, state-wise; Pradeep Thakur, 47% of all pending POCSO cases are from Maharashtra , August 2, 2017: The Times of India

The pendency of cases of crimes against children have gone up significantly . Maharashtra accounts for nearly half of all the 27,500 cases of crime against children pending in the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) courts across the country , followed by Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The POCSO courts, set up in 2012, are special courts for the trial of cases of crimes against children to prevent minors from being victimised again in courts which otherwise have to deal with long pendency of other cases. A POCSO court has provision for incamera trial in a child-friendly environment without revealing the identity of children.

There are 591 such courts across the country , almost one in every district, to ensure that the trials are completed within a year from the date of registration of the FIR. These courts come under the direct supervision of the high court of respective states. According to the law ministry , 27,558 cases of crimes against children are pending in POCSO courts as of July this year, of which 12,990 are pending in Maha rashtra alone. The other states where such pendencies are high include Kerala (3,991), Rajasthan (3,828), Madhya Pradesh (1,241) and Bihar (950).

Crimes against children have gone up in recent years, and so have the pendencies in the special children courts set up to deal with such cases.

In order to deal with such cases, the high courts and state governments have taken various steps that included appointment of 459 special public prosecutors, 729 special juvenile police units and 591 special children courts set up in 694 districts, according to the law ministry . The only state which has not set up POCSO courts is Jammu and Kashmir as it is not governed under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, about 14,900 cases were registered under the POCSO Act during 2015, the available statistics. The highest was, however, registered in Uttar Pradesh (3,078 cases), followed by Madhya Pradesh (1,687) and Tamil Nadu (1,544 cases).

However, cases of crime against children booked under various laws have significantly gone up over the years.The NCRB says a total of 94,172 cases of crimes against children were registered in the country during 2015 as compared to 89,423 cases during 2014 and 58,224 in 2013.Maharashtra again accounted for the highest 14.8% of total crimes committed against children registered in the country , followed by Madhya Pradesh (13.7%), Uttar Pradesh (12%) and Delhi (10%).

Paedophilia

Paedophilia in Delhi, 2013-17

Delhi no stranger to paedophiles, but records show criminals repeat offence, Sep 6, 2017: The Times of India

Murray Dennis Ward is not Delhi first encounter with a paedophile.At least three others were apprehended in the past two years. All of them targeted children from lower economic classes. But they share certain characteristics that could flag them as dangerous for society .

According to studies, more than half of sex offenders repeat their crime. Mental health expert Rajat Mitra, who has studied sex offenders lodged in Tihar Jail, said that 58% of the men jailed for rape admitted that it wasn't their first time. Experts say many are predisposed to such crimes. Care should, therefore, be taken to notice the red flags. Take the case of Sunil Rastogi, caught in east Delhi earlier this year. He had earlier been released from a UP ja il for good behaviour while serving out a sentence for raping a minor. Out of jail, he sexually assaulted another nine-year-old girl. The law permitted Rastogi to seek a bail from the police station.

Ramesh Kumar, a labourer arrested in outer Delhi last year for raping and killing 30 children, claimed that he had first committed a sexual crime against a neighbour's child.When the child did not report the matter to the parents, Kumar became bolder. Later whenever he faced resistance from his other victims, he beat them or strangled them after every sexual act.

Many of those arrested for paedophilia are released within months of their arrest. Police and legal experts opined that a registry of offenders should be made and those on the list made to regular report to the police. This, they felt, could be a strong de terrence. Many countries have such databases that law enforcers regularly consult.

Delhi Police does publish a list of sex offenders on its website. This “name and shame“ mechanism has been around since 2013. Details of 700 people convicted of sexual crimes between 1983 and 2017 have been uploaded by the Crime Branch so far. “We upload the names, pictures and conviction details related to three types of offences: rape, molestation and outraging a woman's modesty ,“ a police officer said.

This initiative was in line with the Justice Verma Commission's recommendations on women's safety and Union home ministry directives.The registry in available on http:www.delhipolice.nic.in under the `Useful links' tab under the head of “sexual harassment“. Most crime experts think that the scope of the registry has to be broadened. The central government, it is learnt, is working on a national registry of sexual offenders. It will come into being once all police stations are connected to a single network.

Child vulnerable districts, state-wise

Child vulnerable districts, state-wise

Himanshi Dhawan TNN

The Times of India, June 18, 2011

25% children run risk of losing parental support

A quarter of India’s children live in extremely vulnerable situations face the risk of losing parental care and support. A child in Orissa, Bihar or Jharkhand is more vulnerable to losing parental care than in any other part of the country.

A new study has found that 62 of the 100 child vulnerable districts in India fall in the country’s poverty belt — east zone — that includes states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.

The east zone includes 38.28% of the most vulnerable children followed by central zone (32.13%) and west zone (21.63%). The total estimated vulnerable children in India are approximately 11 crore which are 27% of the total child population below 18 years of age.

The estimation of child vulnerable districts and vulnerable children is part of a study by SOS Children’s Villages of India to enable it to target its future interventions in the vulnerable and needy geographic locations. Vulnerable children were defined as the ones most likely to lose parental care and support due to reasons like poverty, social unrest, HIV AIDS, disability and others.

SOS India general secretary Rakesh Jinsi said, “Besides economic reasons, social unrest and the political situation in states in the east zone have impacted child vulnerability. We have also noticed that vulnerability or the lack of parental support and care lessens as the children become older.’’

A large majority of children lose care and protection of parents between 14-15 years either due to abandonment, disease, death or displacement, he added.

The estimation of vulnerable children was done on the basis of census and population projection data. The study also found that districts with the maximum vulnerable child population included Murshidabad in West Bengal, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur in Bihar, Medinipur in Bengal and Nashik in Maharashtra.

The study also noted that while child population was declining in keeping with national population control strategies, the vulnerability of children continued to increase. The share of child population according to present estimates is 41% and is likely to come down to 37.1% in 2021. However, Jinsi said vulnerability among children was rising.