Violence Against Children

  Crimes against children National Crime Reports Bureau (NCRB) released statistics from 2020 report sexual crimes against children and a rise in cases reported under the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.  In 2020, the maximum number of cases involved kidnapping and abduction (42.6%), followed by the  Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act , 2012 (38.8%) ) including child rape. Reports of POCSO cases have increased steadily since 2014 (except for a slight dip in 2017) – reaching  47,221 cases in 2020. Of the total reported child victims under POCSO, 99% were girls in the age group of 12-18 years.  It is likely that there is significant under-reporting given the social stigma against boys and their families speaking up on child sexual abuse. In 94.6 per cent of cases of child sexual abuse, the perpetrators were known to child victims in one way or the other; in 53.7 per cent of cases they were close family members or relatives/fr...