Cops launch safety drive for kids

After National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data showed an increase in the number of crimes committed against minors in Mumbai, the city police commissioner on Wednesday disclosed his plan to send police teams to each city school to spread awareness about preventing crimes against children.

Police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar said that the department has also made a short film on the same issue, which will be shown to children as part of the initiative. Mr Padsalgikar said, “There is an increase in the number of kidnapping cases in the city, and the main reason behind this is that children flee their homes for, say, entering a relationship willingly with someone. But even in such incidents we have to register kidnapping cases.” He added, “We have already started awareness programmes for the children to inform them about crimes against minors and alert them about the same.”

The department has trained 93 police officers as part of this initiative. Most of them are female officers, apart from six male officers. They would play the role of an educator teaching children to be safe against sexual predators. The officers would also teach the children how to be comfortable enough to approach the authorities in case they experience an assault.

Reports of crime against children in the past one year have increased in Maharashtra, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. A total of 13,912 cases of crimes against children were reported in the Maharashtra in 2015. Almost 6,960 cases were registered for kidnapping and abduction, with a total of 7,150 children abducted from the state.

The state has the worst record in terms of children being raped, with 2,231 cases being registered. Female children have also reported 422 cases of being stalked. There were 2,468 cases of the modesty of children being outraged, and 1,043 of these cases qualifying as sexual harassment.