The spurt comes in the wake of children confiding in their parents, after they received ground-level training from the police trainers under the ‘Police Didi’ initiative, the police said.

Mumbai: The number of Protection Of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases registered in Maharashtra has seen a 35 per cent rise when compared to the figures in 2015. In 2015, 908 cases were registered, while 2016 saw 1,346 cases. According to the police, the rise in numbers shows that more and more cases, including sexual offences targeting minors, have been reported. The spurt comes in the wake of children confiding in their parents, after they received ground-level training from the police trainers under the ‘Police Didi’ initiative, the police said.

According the data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there has been a 40 per cent rise in the POCSO cases registered in 2016, when compared to the corresponding figures in 2015. In 2013, 422 cases were registered, while 2014 saw 678 cases, 2015 saw 908 cases and last year, 1,346 cases — a total of 3354 cases in the last five years. These cases were registered under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and under sections 4, 8 and 12 of the POCSO Act.

Deepak Devraj, deputy commissioner of police (operations) told The Asian Age, “To tackle the ever-increasing problem of POCSO cases, the Mumbai police is time and again coming up with many initiatives. Some of these initiatives include ‘Police Didi’, ‘Bacche Police Bulayenge’. These initiatives shed light on what is to be done if children are victimised.”