New Delhi: Unspeakable crimes continue to be committed in India against girl children. Kids are battered, beaten and raped and the perpetrators could be parents, relatives, friends and strangers.
It may be the end of road for the five-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh, who died on April 29, after being raped. But there are many more struggling for life in hospitals. The condition of three rape victims, undergoing treatment at New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is not very sound, though under control.
This includes a five-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and tortured by two men and then locked in a room and left to die on April 15 in the city. The other six-year-old, having suffered a similar fate, was moved to the ICU on April 26, and underwent an extensive surgical treatment for severe internal injuries.
The third victim, a 13-year-old, has allegedly tried to commit suicide three times — the third time in the hospital. Her mother accused the ward staff of deriding the girl, causing her daughter to take the extreme step. While AIIMS denied it, the government’s enquiry confirmed mental torture.
The Delhi social welfare minister Kiran Walia said, “Our priority is the well being of the girl and her counselling has started.”
All the above cases have happened within a month and reports of similar crimes continue to pour in. While women activists see it as a positive sign that people have begun to report crimes against the girl child, the bad news comes from the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) that matters are only getting worse.
An NCRB official, on condition of anonymity, claimed, “Abduction and kidnapping of children have risen, but rape cases have increased manifold.”
A study by Child Relief and You (CRY) conducted last year revealed that 33 per cent of girls are abused in schools and about 48 per cent while going to school. The situation is prevalent among lower-income families, it said.
The survey was conducted in 480 households in slum clusters of New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.
A CRY official said, “Unfortunately, the families are neither aware of their rights, nor are capable of protecting their children. We had submitted our report and suggested certain reforms to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and department of Women and Child Development to address the issues.”
“It is very sad that the girl child, who should be the most protected, remains at greatest risk — both in and out of the house,” she added.
Meanwhile, Special Commissioner of Police, Sudhir Yadav, who is directly supervising the calls related to crime against women, reiterated, “The sharp rise in the numbers of rape cases and sexual crimes has resulted from people reporting the crimes.”
