The National Crime Records Bureau report that was released on December 4, 2023 revealed that crimes against children have gone up in India from 33.6 per cent in 2021 to 36.6 per cent in 2022.
Many of us in our late 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s remember our childhood with great nostalgia. We recall it as an idyllic time when we were free to roam in the colonies we grew up in and the by-lanes and parks we played in. We fondly recall the markets we visited on our own to buy that ice cream or cold drink. It was a time when our mothers could ask us to run an errand to the shop close by and we could play till the street lights came on. The only thing we were afraid of back then was the dark and father’s scoldings for some misdemeanour.
Fast forward to the India of today and by and large in the urban areas we see that there is almost no unsupervised play time for children. Mothers don’t let their kids out of their sight. For those who can afford it, the children are accompanied everywhere by their mothers, grandparents, or nannies and those who can’t, just make sure that the children stay inside. By and large, it is only the children of the underprivileged or those who live in rural areas, who can still be seen playing outside the house unsupervised.
The answer as to why our children are living under the shadow of fear is very disturbing and shameful.
While India is blessed with a young population, out of the 142 crore people, a whopping 26 per cent are children between the ages of 0 to 14 years, which is a very vulnerable age group. Though this means that unlike China and some European nations with ageing populations, our future is secure in our children, we are not being able to secure the future of these very children. If official data is anything to go by, crimes against children are going up in India each passing year.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report that was released on December 4, 2023, the crimes against children have gone up in India from 33.6 per cent in 2021 to 36.6 per cent in 2022.
NCRB data reveals that 99 children were raped and murdered in 2022, while another 1,340 were murdered. And these are just the official figures as so many cases go unreported or undetected.
