Experts fear the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven this unfortunate trend
Photo: iStock Global crime rackets targeting minors over the internet and making them do disturbing acts have been the theme of several OTT docu-series lately. But they are also becoming the sad reality of many children in India, as the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) found.
As many as 1,823 cases of cybercrimes against children were recorded in 2022 – a 32 per cent rise from the previous year, the NCRB data showed. In 2021, the total number of such cases was 1,376.
The offences include cyber pornography, hosting or publishing obscene sexual materials depicting children, cyberstalking or bullying and other allied crimes.
As many as 1,171 cases of ‘Cyber Pornography / Hosting or Publishing Obscene Sexual Materials’, 158 cases of cyber stalking / bullying and 416 cases of cybercrimes against children of other nature were reported.
Experts fear the COVID-19 pandemic, when children across the world were forced to attend classes online, may have driven this unfortunate trend.
“The fear that the COVID pandemic may have left children far more exposed to various online
education and other entertainment platforms – which in effect tended to increase risks for children manifested at multiple levels – has been vindicated by the current NCRB data,” said Puja Marwaha, chief executive of CRY – Child Rights and You, a non-profit.
She advocated for “stringent mechanisms to track down the offenders” to make the Internet a safe space for children again.
Offline as well, the country became more unsafe for the younger population last year, with an almost 9 per cent increase in crimes against children compared to 2021. As many as 1,62,449 offences against children were registered in 2022, according to NCRB. This means, 18 crimes against children took place every hour of last year on an average.
This is especially worrying because the overall crime cases in the country decreased in 2022.
Five states accounted for almost half of all the crimes against children, the analysis showed. These included Maharashtra (12.8 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (12.6 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (11.5 per cent), Rajasthan (5.8 per cent) and West Bengal (5.5 per cent). The crime rate — the number of crime cases in every one lakh population — was the highest in Delhi.
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