Over 98 per cent of accused in child sexual abuse cases are known to victims, states the Praja Foundation in its yearly report, ‘State of policing and law and order’, which was released on Wednesday. As per the report, of the total rape cases registered last year 58 per cent victims were minor girls.
The report also states that 51 per cent accused booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act are known to victim; they are friends, lovers or social media acquaintances who abuse on the pretext of marriage. In 18 per cent cases, the accused are neighbours. The involvement of family members and other relatives is also high. Last year, 964 cases were registered under the POCSO Act; 445 were rape cases, while the remaining 439 were of sexual assault involving children.
As per the report 96 per cent victims were girls. The city also reported a total of 767 rape cases last year, wherein 445 victims (58 per cent) were minors. The report suggests a decline of 24 per cent in rape cases as compared to 2019, when the cases registered were 1,015. In 2018, the city reported 889 rape cases, while 751 were registered in 2017. The number of kidnapping cases involving minors decreased drastically last year owing to the lockdown. Last year 1,150 minors were kidnapped from the city; of them, 67 per cent were girls. In 2019, the number of kidnapped minors from the city were 2,137 and 2,175 in 2018.
The most number of children kidnapped were in the 16-18 age group which is 35 per cent, followed by children in the 12-16 age group, which is 26 per cent. The report further states that of the total 2,533 people kidnapped from the city limits since 2018, the police have traced 1,098, while four were found dead.
The remaining 1,431 (56 per cent) of the total kidnapping cases remain untraceable. Effective monitoring of implementation of special laws such as the POCSO Act are important steps towards better policing. However, citizens also play an important role in reducing crime in a city.
