Uttar Pradesh tops child rape, abuse chart

Uttar Pradesh, in the news for chief minister Mayawati’s show of money power on the occasion of her Bahujan Samaj Party’s silver jubilee on Tuesday, has earned the dubious distinction of being the state with most child sex abuse and child rape cases.
According to the National Crime Record Bureau and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), of the 5,446 cases of child rape registered in the country in 2008, almost 900 were from UP.

The state also reported the most cases of child abuse, including molestation, in 2007 — 61 of 298.

Equally worrying were the conviction and disposal rates — only eight of the 61 cases of child abuse have been disposed of to date.

“This is a state where students are arrested for throwing colour on the chief minister’s poster. Mayawati and her administration need to be more sensitive to the issue of child abuse,” NCPCR member Sandhya Bajaj said.

Next was another big state, Madhya Pradesh, which registered 892 cases of child rape and 18 incidents of sexual abuse, followed by Maharashtra (690 child rapes and nine abuses).
Delhi reported 52 cases of child sexual abuse and 301 child rapes. Karanataka received 97 complaints of child rape and nine of child sexual abuse, Gujarat 99 and six, Rajasthan 420 and five, Andhra Pradesh 412 and 16, Bihar 91 and 15 and Orissa registered 65 child rape and 22 child sexual abuse cases.

The government’s first child abuse survey in 2007 had said that about 53% of children faced sexual abuse. Across groups, children aged 5-12 years reported higher levels of abuse by persons of trust and authority. Worst, 70% of abused children never reported  the matter.