“It is seen that crime incident under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL) against children has increased from 1,28,531 in 2020 to 1,62,449 in 2022,” the report says. Also, the proportion of crime committed against children per 1,00,000 children is also showing and upward trend during 2015-2022.

The data shows that the crime rate against children in 2015 was only 22.6 per lakh children which sharply rose to 38.33 by 2022. The report quoted National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data and said that a total of 93,878 IPC crimes against children were recorded in 2022, with kidnapping and abduction emerging as the category with the highest incident. Under SLL, 68,571 cases were registered, of which 63,414 cases fell under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, accounting for a significant 39.04 per cent of the total.

It may be noted that under POCSO Act, a total of 46,005 cases were reported in 2019 with 46,682 victims. The reported cases rose to 63,414 in 2022 with the number of victims increasing to 64,469. Among these, the total number of girl child victims stood at 62,095 cases with number of victims as 63,116. As for the crime rate in POCSO Act is concerned it has been doubled since 2019, when it was 7.1. It rose sharply to 12.1 in 2021 and 14.3 in 2022.

Considering the cases with respect to age profile of the child victims, the highest number of cases were registered in the 16 to 18 years age group. This could be attributed to the fact that children in this age group are often required to travel to distant places for educational purposes, or in some cases, may enter the labour force at an early age, thereby facing greater exposure and vulnerability, the report said.

In 2022, a total of 30,555 cases were registered against juveniles compared to 29,768 and 31,170 cases in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Rate of crime by juveniles in 2022 was highest in Delhi (42.3) followed by Puducherry (29.6), Chandigarh (24.7), Chhattisgarh (24.2) and Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (22.9). With regard to the nature of offences, 7879 juveniles were apprehended under theft, 2651 for burglary, 209 under Excise Act, 464 under Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substance Act and 88 under the Information Technology Act.

As regards adoption of orphans, the number of in-country adoption has consistently ranged between 2,991 to 4,155 children per year, while inter-country adoptions have ranged between 360 and 653 children annually. During 2024-25, there were 4,155 in-country adoptions of which 2,336 were female and 1,819 were male. This possibly indicates gender preference, with female children adopted more often than male children in in-country and inter-country adoptions. The State with maximum number of adoptions is Maharashtra wherein 849 children were adopted.

As for disable children, no fresh data later than Census 2011 is available. The report used the Census 2011 data and said that the share of disabled children to the disabled population for the age group 0-6 years is 7.62 per cent, and 20.23 per cent for age group 7-18. In 0-6 age group, the proportion is particularly high in Uttar Pradesh (20.31 per cent), Bihar (14.24 per cent), and Maharashtra (10.64 per cent), followed by West Bengal (6.48 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (6.22 per cent), indicating a significant concentration of cases in these states. In contrast, several smaller states and UTs report very low shares such as Lakshadweep (0.00 per cent), Daman & Diu (0.01 per cent), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (0.02 per cent), and Arunachal Pradesh (0.10 per cent).

The magnitude of child labour in India, however, has been witnessing enormous decline as comparison to the last two census data. The report quoting Census 2021 says that the proportion of child workers in the age-group 5-9 years is 2 per cent and for the age group 10-14 years is 5.72 per cent.

The report says that violence against children knows no boundaries of culture, class, or education. It takes place against: children in institutions, in schools, and at home. For infants and younger children, violence mainly involves child maltreatment (ie physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect) at the hands of parents and other authority figures.

Boys and girls are at equal risk of physical and emotional abuse and neglect, and girls are at greater risk of sexual abuse. As children reach adolescence, peer violence and intimate partner violence, in addition to child maltreatment, become highly prevalent, the report said.

Violence affects all children, the report stated. But children living with disabilities, those suffering extreme poverty, girls and boys in institutional care, and children separated from their families or on the move as migrants, refugees or asylum seekers face the greatest risk. Sexual orientation, gender identity and belonging to a marginalized social or ethnic group also heightens a child’s chance of suffering violence.

The report emphasized that every child has right to grow up away from violence, physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse, exploitation, neglect and harmful practices. Therefore, it is the collective responsibility to protect children. (IPA Service)