Kerala is no country for young children if statistics is anything to go by. According to Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, as many as 2,093 cases of crimes against children have been registered in the state in the year 2016.
According to PTI, Thiruvananthapuram topped the list in crimes against children with as many as 256 cases, followed by Malappuram 241, Ernakulam 217 and Thrissur 190.
In most of the cases, the accused were known to the victims. Commission chairperson Shobha Koshy said in a statement that of the 2,491 accused in the cases, 1,663 were known to the children, reports the PTI. In 817 cases, the crime took place in the homes of children, 88 in schools and 252 cases in the house of accused. There were 406 crimes that took place in public places.
The commission revealed that 1,029 children in the 15-18 years age group and 800 in the 10-14 years age group faced sexual harassment in the state last year, indicting that teenagers are the most vulnerable to sexual crimes.
The commission received 1,298 cases relating to child rights violations among others till September 30 this year, according to PTI.
Set up in 2013, Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights aims to redress complaints received regarding violation or denial of child rights, identifying gaps in existing laws, police and systems for protection of child rights and making suitable recommendations to government to rectify them.
(with PTI inputs)
