Crimes against children highest in Delhi

The fact that Delhi is unsafe for women has been well documented. But according to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, the city, it seems, is not safe for children either.

The fact that Delhi is unsafe for women has been well documented. But according to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, the city, it seems, is not safe for children either.

The data says that 33,098 cases of crime against children were reported in the country in 2011 as compared to 26,694 cases in 2010. This amounts to a 24% rise in crimes against children.

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Of these, 5,500 cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh, 4,383 in Madhya Pradesh and 4,250 in Delhi. But the rate of crime (number of crime per one lakh population) against children was highest in Delhi (25.4%) followed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands (20.3%), Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh (7% each), Madhya Pradesh (6%) and Goa (5.1%) as compared to the national average of 2.7.

A total of 1,514 cases of child murder, including infanticide, were reported in 2011 against 1,508 cases in 2010. Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of such cases (326), accounting for 22.9% of the total murder cases reported in the country. Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry did not report any case of child murder in 2011.

Also, the country saw 7,112 incidents of child rape in 2011 as compared to 5,484 in 2010, a rise of 29.7%. Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest number of rape cases (1,262) followed by Uttar Pradesh (1,088) and Maharashtra (818). The three together accounted for 44.5% of the total cases reported in the country.

There was a 43.2% rise in the number of cases of kidnapping of children across the country. In 2010, this number stood at 10,670. It has gone up to 15,282 cases in 2011. Uttar Pradesh (3,739) and Delhi (3,528) account for 24.5% and 23.1% of these cases.

However, buying and selling of girls has gone down across the country. In 2011, 27 cases of ‘buying of girls’ and 113 cases of selling of girls for prostitution were reported. In contrast, these numbers stood at 70 and 130 respectively in 2010.