BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is among the top states in crimes against children, even those unborn. As per the National Crime Records Bureau report for 2020, released on Wednesday, MP not only has the maximum incidents of rape against children – 3,259 – but also has the highest numbers (271) of foeticide, miscarriage and abandonment.
In crimes against children, MP has the maximum cases – 11,322, or 14%, of the 77,382 such cases under IPC incidents in the country. MP also accounts for a shocking 11.8% of child rapes in the country – 3,259 of 27,001.
When it comes to crime against infants and the unborn, 271 incidents of miscarriage, infanticide, foeticide and abandonment were reported in Madhya Pradesh in 2020. This is nearly 18% of all such cases in India.
MP tops in cases of abandonment of newborns (186) and is second, after Gujarat (24), in infanticide (17).
In foeticide, it’s 4th with four cases.
Mismatch in rape data?
The NCRB report says in table 1A.4 that 2,339 cases of rape were reported in MP in 2020, and table 3A.3 specifies that this number includes two girls aged below 6 years, 7 aged below 12, and one above 16 but below 18 years. Table 4A.2 of the same report says that 3,259 incidents of child rape were registered in MP . If the cases under IPC section 376 are listed under the first column (2,339), how is it that cases of child rape outnumber it? Cases under Pocso Act draw IPC 376.
