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Childhood under siege: DNA looks at rising instances of sexual crimes against children across the nation

With the brutal murder of a 7-year-old school student in Gurugram again bringing to fore the vulnerabilities of our future generation, DNA looks at rising instances of sexual crimes against children across the nation

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The father of the seven-year-old Class II student of Ryan International School, Gurugram dropped his child and his elder daughter to school at 7.55 am. At 8 am the Gurugram police received a call from the school informing about the child's murder.

The gruesome murder has, once again, unlined the brutal fact that our government, law enforcement agencies, and, to a certain extent, courts have neglected to acknowledge that predators, looking to sexually assault children, are roaming the streets without any checks and balances.

Despite the laws, poor policing and a lax justice delivery system has let the those who commit sexual crimes on children often get away scot-free.

Official figures compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2015 show that the highest number of cases related to crimes against children were reported from Maharashtra.

According to NCRB records, in 2015, a total of 13,921 such cases were registered in Maharashtra, constituting nearly 15 per cent of the total crimes against children in the country. The number of such cases registered in 2015 was four times higher than the cases registered in 2010 (3,264). The state's dubious record placed it higher than Madhya Pradesh (12,859) and Uttar Pradesh (11,420), the only other states in the country with more than 5,000 reported cases of crimes against children in 2015.

In 2016, however, Uttar Pradesh, the country's biggest state, overtook Maharasthra, recording 15826 cases against 14559 in Maharashtra and 13746 in Madhya Pradesh.

From 89,423 registered cases in 2014, including 13,766 pertaining to rape, 11,335 pertaining to assault on girl children with intent to outrage her modesty, and 8,904 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the number went up to 94,172 in 2015 and 10,5785 in 2016. In this period, the cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act have grown the highest to 35,980 in 2016.

Police officers admit the numbers for 2017 will be "drastically higher" than 2016.

The national Capital is also facing a crisis on this count. Almost every hour, a child becomes victim to a crime. At an average, 22 crimes against children were reported every day from Delhi in 2016, and 25 a day in 2015.

'City Beautiful' Chandigarh is also witnessing a spiral in the numbers. From 96 cases in 2012 to 271 in 2015, the number of cases of crimes against children are on the rise. A total of 215 cases were registered in 2013, which went down to 208 in 2014 and again rose to 271 in 2015.

In Gujarat, in 2013 a total of 2,076 cases were lodged, including 263 rapes, two for selling girls for prostitution. The rape cases went up to 291 in 2014, but came down to 57 in 2015.

However, the seven-year-old's gruesome murder in Gurugram on Friday has also brought the focus back on the lack of preventive measures to curb such crimes. While there are laws to punish offences, there is no law as yet to prevent these crimes and offences. There is an immediate need for a law, or for guidelines to prevent sexual crimes against children in spaces they usually inhabit — including schools and playgrounds.

The unamended law on juvenile justice — Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 — carried a provision to prevent sexual crimes. "The Central government, state government, the Juvenile Justice Board, the Child Welfare Committee, other competent authorities and agencies shall, in the best interest of children, ensure that every person, school or such other educational institutions abide by the guidelines issued from time to time by Central government and state government," it read.

However, inexplicably, the amended Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 does not have any provision for any preventive measure.

"It is now open to state governments, which have the primary powers, to make state rules under Juvenile Justice Act 2015 to legislate new provisions in their state rules. While some schools have functional child protection systems in place as a preventive measure, all of them have done it on their own. There needs to be a law or regulation binding all schools to do so," said child rights activist Anant Asthana, who was a member of the drafting committee of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.

According to Komal Ganotra of Child Rights and You (CRY), "The best preventive measure is a child protection system, and it must be made mandatory for schools to implement them. If we look closely enough, we will find that over 80 per cent of schools are not prepared to handle any form of prevention for cases like this," said Ganotra.

Experts say red flags were raised earlier. In 2007, a study was conducted by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on child abuse. As per the findings, of the 12,447 children interviewed across 13 states, a whopping 53 per cent had faced sexual abuse. More importantly, while 47 per cent girls admitted to this fact, the corresponding number among boys was about 53 per cent.

The study also found that over 50 per cent of the abusers were known to the child or were in a position of trust and responsibility. In most cases, the children refused to bring the incident to the notice of their parents.

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