JAIPUR: Crime against children in the state increased by 39% from 2016 to 2020, revealed an analysis of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report done by the Child Rights and You (CRY).
This rate is more than double the national rate of crime against children in the last five years, which stands at 17%. The analysis is based on the findings of the latest Crime in India (2020) report by NCRB.
The total number of crimes against children reported in 2016 in the state stood at 4,034. This increased to 6,580 in 2020. However, when compared to 2019, there's a drop of 10.9% in the total number of cases recorded. Despite strict restrictions during the pandemic, on an average, eight children were reported missing in the state daily.
Shedding light on the status of missing children, Soha Moitra, regional director, CRY, said, “Despite stringent restrictions and surveillance to prevent any movement during the lockdown months last year, 3,179 children were reported to have gone missing in the state. More alarmingly, in 82% of such cases, the victims were girls.
CRY, through its status report, 'Covid and Missing Childhood' released earlier this year, had raised concern over the grim issue of missing children in the state. The NCRB-2020 report has further substantiated the urgent need to look into the issue.”
On an average eight children were reported kidnapped or abducted per day in 2020. According to NCRB data, 2,769 cases of kidnapping and abduction were reported in the state in 2020 and 2,835 children were kidnapped or abducted. However, the figure has decreased compared to the previous year.Also, the percentage of kidnappings and abductions were the highest among all types of crime against children. In all, 42% cases of overall crimes against children reported in 2020 were kidnapping and abduction.
The state also reported the highest number of rapes of minors in the country in 2020 revealed the NCRB data. In all 1,279 cases of minor rapes were registered in the state last year, an average of four cases daily. This figure is 19% of the overall crime against children in the state.
“The Crime in India report is of special significance since it provides glimpses of the situation of crimes in the country, including child protection during the Covid pandemic. School closures during Covid, mobility restrictions to contain the spread of the pandemic coupled with economic slowdown disproportionately impacted livelihoods and household economic and food security of marginalised families. Therefore, it was highly likely that it contributed to increasing vulnerabilities of children to child labour, marriage, trafficking as well as gender-based violence, especially in states like Rajasthan where crime against children are considerably high,” she said.
“Child marriage and labour are issues that represent a complex interplay of socio-economic and cultural practices, and, therefore, despite having legislations against these practices, continue to be under reported. According to NCRB 2020 data, a total of 30 cases of child labour and only 3 of child marriage were reported in Rajasthan which is very less compared to the previous year. In 2019, this figure was 48 and 19, respectively. This may lead to possibilities of these cases being under-reported in the state,” Soha said.
“The implementation of various schemes has definitely led to certain progress in addressing crime against children in the state. However, with the pandemic adding more challenges there is a need to adopt innovative strategies,” she said.
