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Crime
Against Children On The Rise in India
by Prashant K. Nanda
New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) As police unearthed skeletons of several
children from an area on the outskirts of the Indian capital, data
available with the home ministry reveals that crime against kids is
on an alarming upward curve.
According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), India reported
14,975 criminal cases against children in 2005 as against 14,423 in
2004 - a 3.8 percent increase nationally.
A total of 1,327 cases of murder of children were reported in 2005,
up from 1,304 in 2004 - an increase of 1.8 percent. Uttar Pradesh
reported the highest number (390), accounting for 29.4 percent of
the total cases.
Similarly, 4,026 cases of child rape were reported during 2005 as
compared to 3,542 in 2004, accounting for a significant increase of
13.7 percent during the year, the NCRB report said.
Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of rapes (870) followed
by Maharashtra (634). These two states taken together accounted for
37.3 percent of the total child rape cases.
Delhi is not far behind.
NCRB found that 301 children up to 15 years of age were kidnapped in
the capital in 2005.
The total kidnappings in India were 2,571 children for 2003, 3,196
in 2004 and 3,518 in 2005.
Aroona Broota, a leading psychologist here, told IANS: "Sexual
passion and materialistic desire are driving people in urban cities,
and when they fail to achieve the desired object a number of them
resort to crime.
"It's a result of utter frustration. Here children become easy
targets because they can be easily overpowered either for money or
sexual satisfaction. So a lot of children in cities are kidnapped
for ransom or sexually assaulted.
"As children are a vulnerable section of our society the number of
cases against them is growing. What we need to do is identify our
weak points and address them through a quick legal procedure."
On Friday, skeletons of several children kept in bags were found
near a water tank in the Nithari village in Noida on New Delhi's
outskirts. A total of 38 children, most of them minor girls, had
gone missing in the area for the last two years.
Police have arrested Surendra Kohli alias Satish, who is believed to
be mentally ill, on charges of murdering the children after sexually
assaulting them. Satish, a resident of Almora in Uttaranchal, was
working as a domestic help in a businessman's house.
"The skeletons were found buried in a two-and a-half-feet deep ditch
behind the house of the businessman," said Jagmohan Yadav, the
inspector general of police (IGP) Meerut Range.
"He (Satish) does not seem to be a normal person. Psychopaths like
him commit regular offence without any remorse," said Sameer Parekh,
a noted psychiatrist.
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