Kochi: The number of crimes against children, including physical and sexual abuse, being reported is on the rise in the district even as the Police has given shape to new initiatives like ‘Child Friendly Police stations’ to curb the social malaise. While ChildLine Kochi made 892 interventions during the period April 2015 to March 2016, the number of intervention cases increased to 1,052 in 2016-17 and it touched 960 cases so far this year.
“We have witnessed a 20 per cent rise in sexual, physical and psychological abuse cases being reported against children. This calls for tough action on the part of authorities including school-level campaigns,” said Father Tomy SDB, director of ChildLine, Kochi. As per the figures made available by the agency involved in the protection of the rights of children, there were 104 physical abuse cases against children reported in the 2016-17 period, which made it 23 more than that in the previous financial year (2015-16). There were 83 physical abuse cases in 2016-17 as against 61 in 2015-16.
Similarly, a total of 35 child labour cases were reported in 2016-17 as against 17 in the corresponding period of the previous year. However, while eight instances of child marriage cases were reported in 2015-16, there was only one case in 2016-17. While there were 49 cases of ‘Missing Children’ in 2015-16, 31 such cases were reported with the agency in 2016-17. There were also 27 corporal punishment cases in 2016-17, the statistics showed.
