Increase in crimes against children is alarming

[wp_ad_camp_1] Increase in crimes against children is alarming

By Zaib Azkaar Hussain

Karachi

The increase in reported cases of child abuse by 11 per cent in year 2018 as compared to 2017 is a matter of grave concern.

A report released by a non-governmental organization (NGO) Sahil claimed that the increase clearly showed that more than 10 children were abused every day in Pakistan in 2018. Is that not a terrible fact that increase was noted in a situation while Imran Ali, a rapist and murderer of seven-year-old Zainab Amin Ansari had been hanged in the same year (in October 2018).

The report, titled ‘Cruel Numbers 2018’, has been compiled by monitoring 85 regional and national newspapers, and from the cases that have been reported. The NGO (Sahil) has been releasing the report for the past 18 years in collated form and this time it underlined that a total of 3,832 child abuse cases were reported by newspapers in all four provinces as well as Islamabad, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. In comparison, 3,445 such incidents were reported from January to December 2017.  It said that 3,832 cases of child abuse were reported in 2018. The report stated that 33 per cent rise was seen in child sexual abuse cases. According to the report Girls found to be more vulnerable between ages 0-5 and 16-18 and boys found to be more vulnerable between ages 6-10 and 11-15. Most child abuse cases were reported from Punjab, followed by Sindh and KP, the report noted.

The report mentioned that out of total reported 3,832 cases, 55 per cent of the victims were girls while 45pc were boys. THe report highlighted that the total figure included 2,327 cases of child sexual abuse alone, with 51pc of the cases involving female children and 49 per cent male children. According to the report, data showed that cases of child sexual abuse specifically witnessed a rise of a significant 33 per cent in comparison with the reported cases of 2017.

The total figure of 3,832 crimes against children includes 923 reported cases of abduction, 589 of sodomy, 537 of rape, 452 of missing children, 345 of attempted rape, 282 of gang sodomy, 156 of gang rape and 99 cases of child marriages.

According to the report, 2018 saw sodomy cases rise by 61 per cent and rape cases by 15 per cent as compared to 2017.

Like the previous years, a majority (72 per cent) of the child abuse cases in 2018 took place in rural areas and 28pc in urban areas. Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad (in that order) topped the list of the 10 most vulnerable districts in the country.

The cases of murder after sexual abuse decreased by 16 per cent (92) as compared to the 109 cases reported in 2017.

The report found that most of the perpetrators knew the family or the children and were ranked the highest in the list of abusers. Out of the total reported cases, there were 1,787 cases where the abusers were acquainted with the child or respective family. Strangers abusing the children were involved in 410 cases.

It may be mentioned that Imran Ali was convicted and awarded capital punishment by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) for the rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Amin Ansari in Kasur. He was hanged to death in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Central Jail.

Deceased Zainab had disappeared on January 5 and that was the 12th such incident that happened in the area of Kasur in one year.

The incident had sparked outrage and protests across the country following the recovery of the child’s body from a trash heap a week after she went missing.  A senior anchor Dr Shahid Masood had claimed that convict Imran was actually working for some international group involved in child abuse. However he had failed to prove his claims before the Supreme Court. He was said to have backtracked from his previous statement hinting at a child pornography scandal. At first he had claimed involvement of some influential functionaries and some ministers backing the convict but on the failure of presentation of any proofs, he said things were often misreported.

He had to face strong criticism as he had stated that the investigation was not his responsibility and it was the job of state institutions to find the authenticity of the news. He had clarified that he would not provide this information with any wrong intent. However since Dr Shahid Masood failed to prove anything against claims and an investigation committee set up by the court also did not find any corroborated proofs to make investigation in this direction. However the facts presented by the NGO (Sahil) once again drew the attention of people towards the sensitivity of the crimes against minor children and it needed to look into the matters of heinous crimes against missing minors in line with the negative plans of criminal groups and kidnappers.

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