Question : Prevention of Crimes

(a) whether various crimes including crime against children have been reported/registered in the country;

(b) if so, the total number of such cases reported, offenders arrested/convicted, cases solved/unsolved and the steps taken to solve these cases during the last three years and the current year, crime and State/UT-wise;

(c) whether the Government proposes to take any effective action to prevent incidents of crime including crime against children in the country and if so, the details of the action taken by the Government in this regard during the said period, State/UT-wise;

(d) whether the Government proposes to launch any awareness programmes/schemes to check the criminal tendency of the younger section and if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether any efforts have been made by the Government for rehabilitation of children who have become the victims of such crimes and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the concrete steps being taken to curb such crimes along with the advisories/ guidelines issued to the States and Police Departments in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)
(a) & (b) National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), compiles and publishes statistics on crimes in its publication “Crime in India”. The published reports are available till the year 2016. Details of State/UT-wise and Crime



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Head-wise cases registered, cases chargesheeted, cases in which trials completed, cases in which there have been convictions, cases pending trial at the end of the year, persons arrested, persons charge-sheeted and persons convicted in the country under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Crimes (including crime against children) during the period from 2014 to 2016 is available at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.
(c) ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibilities to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens rest with the respective State Governments. The State Governments are competent to deal with such offences under the extant provisions of laws.
However, the Government accords utmost priority to the safety of children. The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) administers the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) as a special law to protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. Under the Act, a child is defined as any person below the age of 18 years. The Act being gender neutral provides equal protection to boys and girls from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.
The Government has also enacted the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 to prescribe even more stringent penal provisions including death penalty for rape of a girl below the age of 12 years.



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The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is implementing a 24x7 child helpline (CHILDLINE 1098) which provides counseling care as well as intervention on the ground if required. MWCD also supports 97 Railway Childline on major railway platforms. Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), which provides a single emergency number (112) based computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress, has been operationalized in 20 States/UTs in 2018-19.

(d) Section 43 of the POCSO Act provides that the Central Government and every State Government shall take all measures to give wide publicity to the provisions of the Act. In accordance with this, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has taken various steps from time to time to create awareness of the provisions of the POCSO Act through electronic and print media, consultations, workshops and training programmes with stakeholders concerned. Further, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) are also mandated to monitor the implementation of the POCSO Act, 2012.

(e) MWCD is implementing a centrally sponsored "Child Protection Services" (CPS) (erstwhile Integrated Child Protection Scheme) for supporting the children in difficult circumstances, as envisaged under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. MWCD



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provides financial assistance to the States/UTs on sharing pattern for, inter-alia, undertaking a situational analysis of children in difficult circumstances, for setting up and maintenance of various types of Child Care Institutions (CCls). Under the scheme institutional care is provided through CCls, as a rehabilitative measure. In these CCls, children are provided appropriate education either within the institution or outside in a formal education system through convergence with other schemes and programs of the Government or civil society. Under the non-institutional care component, support is extended for adoption, foster care and sponsorship. Further, CPS also provides for “After care” services after the age of 18 years to help sustain them during the transition from institutional to independent life. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016 framed under JJ Act, inter-alia specify standards for physical infrastructure, clothing, bedding, nutrition & diet, as well as rehabilitation measures such as education, vocational training, counselling etc.
(f) In accordance with Section 39 of the POCSO Act and on request of the State Governments, the MWCD had developed Model Guidelines for child to take assistance of expert etc. and the same were sent to all the State Governments/UT Administrations in September, 2013. Ministry of Home Affairs has from time to time issued Advisories to States/UTs on crimes against children. These advisories are available at www.mha.gov.in.
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