Crimes against children at record high

Youth and children comprise more than 55 per cent of India 's population. Yet, be it abuse, rape or kidnapping, crimes against some 400 million of these children are at an all-time high. According to a National Human Rights Commission report released on Monday India has witnessed a 4 per cent increase in crimes against children below 18 years. More alarmingly, the child rape rate has gone up by 14 per cent and kidnappings and abductions by 10 per cent. It also notes that missing children remain a neglected and low-priority intervention area. The report observes that the juvenile justice system has failed to provide care and protection to vulnerable children. For example, despite specific provisions in the Juvenile Justice (Care and    Protection    of Children) Act, 2000, many states and UTs are yet to frame rules under the principal Act. And in a majority of places, Special Juvenile Police Units have not even been set up.  But there is some good news. States are harnessing technology to curb these crimes. The report applauds the Delhi Police for introducing computerization of missing persons' data. It says that ever since this was done in 2006, the percentage of tracing missing persons has gone up from 25 per cent in 2005 to 74 per cent in 2006. In 2006, 80 per cent of Delhi 's missing children were traced. As the country celebrates Children's Day, statistics show that for thousands of boys and girls, childhood is not the happiest time of their lives.

• 44,000 children go missing in any given year.

• 11,000 of them remain untraced.

• 14,975 cases of crimes against children reported in 2005, up from 14,423 in 2004.

Delhi reported highest crime rate at 6.5 followed by Chandigarh (5.7) and Madhya Pradesh (5.6); national average 1.4.  (Source: The Hindustan Times, November 14, 2007)