All cities and districts in the country will soon have designated police stations for crimes against children (CAC). Getting tough on police to protect children from falling victims to crime, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has directed state governments to put in place special police cells and designate officials to exclusively handle child-related crimes.
These police stations will be set up on the lines of crime against women (CAW) cells or mahila thanas that are already functional in states.
The CACs will also have at least two juvenile welfare officers to deal with juveniles detained for a crime.
Besides dealing with cases of missing children, for which registration of FIR will be compulsory now, these police stations will also register and investigate complaints relating to child rape, sodomy, abetment to suicide and other offences including corporal punishment. Also, there has to be a mandatory registration of FIR relating to crime against girls.
NCPCR member Sandhya Bajaj said Delhi Police has already taken the lead. On Wednesday, Delhi Police chief YS Dadwal issued orders to convert all CAW cells running in nine districts to Crime against Women and Children (CAWC) Cells.
The Delhi Police has also begun training its police officials and hiring juvenile welfare officers besides setting up a helpline to deal with complaints of missing children. Incidentally, in 2007 Delhi had the highest crime rate against children, followed by Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh.
As per National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data there has been a 7.6% increase in crime against children between 2006 and 2007. A total 20,410 cases of crimes against children were reported in the country during 2007, as compared to 18,967 in 2006.
