By IANS,
Bhopal : It’s a dubious honour Madhya Pradesh might want to do away with. The state tops the list of crimes against children – with over a dozen children in the state falling victims to crimes such sexual abuse, kidnapping, prostitution and infanticide each day.
The National Crime Records Bureau report for 2007 released recently says that as many as 4,290 cases of crimes against children were recorded during the year in Madhya Pradesh. Incidents of sexual abuse of children (1,043) account for the maximum cases of crime.
“This in other words means that every day three children of the state are exposed to sexual abuse,” said Rajiv Bhargava of Bachpan – an organisation working for child right’s protection.
As many as 283 cases of kidnapping of children were reported during the year.
Twenty-one percent of the total cases recorded accounted for infanticide while 6.3 percent cases pertained to girl-child prostitution in the state and 2.9 percent accounted for selling girl child for prostitution.
“Other than this, there have been umpteen number of cases regarding foeticide, child marriage and crimes against street children that have been reported in the state,” said Bhargava.
In Madhya Pradesh, three children on an average come on the streets every day, taking the number of such children to 1,000 in a year. And most of the crime cases are reported against these children, a recent survey done by Bachpan pointed out.
“The government should take decisive steps to protect these children and priority should be given to identify and overcome the very reasons which make these children run away from their homes,” Bhargava said.
While Madhya Pradesh recorded 4,290 cases of crime against children, Maharashtra recorded 2,707, and Uttar Pradesh 2,248. The states which recorded lowest number of cases of crime against children were Jammu and Kashmir (26), Arunachal Pradesh (40) and Nagaland (70).