1.1 lakh cases of crime against children reported in five yrs: RTI
There has been an alarming increase in crimes against children across the country in the recent years, especially after the Covid pandemic. As per data received in reply to an RTI application, as many as 1,10,194 complaints related to child abuse were received by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) between April 2019 and June 2024.
Alarming increase across country
Madhya Pradesh tops the list with 31,354 reported cases of child abuse, followed by Chhattisgarh at second place with 11,602 cases and UP at the third place with 10,884 cases
As per the RTI reply, 37,973 complaints were received in 2019. During the prevalence of the Covid pandemic, 5,154 complaints were received in 2020, 5,249 in 2021 and 4,243 in 2022. In 2023, the number of complaints to the Commission recorded a 10-fold increase to 46,417 as compared to the previous year. As per the RTI reply, 57,496 complaints were pending with the NCPCR till June 30, 2024, while ony 2,797 complaints were pending before the Commission before April 1, 2019. This information has been received in response to an RTI application filed by Subhash, convener of the Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch.
“The most surprising thing is that not even a single complaint was received through Child Helpline No 1098 between April 2019 and August 2023, following which Child Helpline No. 1098 was withdrawn from Childline India Foundation and handed over to the Women and Child Development Department of the states,” Subhash pointed out. He said in the aforementioned period of more than five years, the highest number of cases of child abuse — 31,354 — were reported to the NCPCR from Madhya Pradesh.
Chhattisgarh was at second place, from where 11,602 cases were reported during the said period. Uttar Pradesh was at the third place with 10,884 cases and Rajasthan fourth with 10,369. Apart from these, 5,855 cases were reported from Tamil Nadu, 4,955 cases from Odisha, 3,696 from Jharkhand, 3,275 from Karnataka, 3,220 from Gujarat, 2,846 from Delhi, 2,609 from Assam, 2,409 from Bihar, 2,371 from West Bengal 1,817 from Haryana during the said period.
