Child rape: Maha 3rd with 690 cases
UP Tops With 900 Crimes in 2008


New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states and Union Territories with the highest number of 900 child rape cases in 2008 followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Home ministry data for three years says child rape cases continue to rise.

A total of 4,721 cases were registered during 2006,5,045 in 2007 and 5,446 in 2008 across the country. The police arrested 5,489 people in 2006 for involvement in such crimes,5,756 in 2007 and 6,363 in 2008.MP registered 892 such cases, Maharashtra (690),Rajasthan (420) and Andhra Pradesh (412) in 2008,the data said.

A total of 411 such cases were registered in Chhattisgarh,301 in Delhi,215 in Kerala,187 in Tamil Nadu,129 in West Bengal,106 in Punjab and 104 in Tripura.Gujarat registered 99 cases, Karnataka 97,Bihar 91,Haryana 70,Himachal 68,Orissa 65 and Goa 18.Eleven cases came to light in Arunachal,12 in Sikkim,18 in Mizoram,22 in Manipur,27 in Assam and 34 in Meghalaya.

According to the Constitution, primary responsibility of prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of crimes, including crimes against children, lies with state or Union Territory administrations, a home official said.

DARK SHADOW

Child rape cases on the rise.4,721 cases reported in 2006,5,045 in 2007,5,446 in 2008
Condition in North-East better;0 child rape cases in Nagaland, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep


Life term only if rape is brutal: HC


New Delhi: The Delhi high court has said that the offence of rape should be accompanied with acts of brutality to merit maximum penalty of life imprisonment for the guilty.

Reducing the punishment awarded to a tutor from life imprisonment to 10 years, a bench said the act of rape should be brutal to attract maximum punishment. The accused had raped his minor student in August 2004.

According to the FIR that was lodged on the complaint of the victims mother, she was shocked to witness the crime on returning from market as her daughter took tuitions from the accused. Interestingly, with solid medical evidence and the testimony of the mother against him, the accused Arun Kumar sought leniency in his sentencing. Kumar pleaded for a lighter prison term saying life sentence was too harsh a verdict.
The HC noted that there were no aggravating circumstances in the case and reduced Kumars term. Counsel for the accused concedes that in view of the evidence, even excluding the DNA report, there is tell tale evidence of the appellant being the tormentor of the young girl, the court observed, pointing out that just because the victim was a minor, it doesnt mean the accused be given life term. Brutality at the time of rape has to be factored in. If the rape is accompanied by acts of brutality, higher sentence should be imposed, the HC said.

HC gets tough on child rape

MUMBAI: Taking a strict view on child rapists, the Bombay high court in an important order has ruled that persons who rape a young girl should be awarded a minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment as stipulated in the law.

In case the trial court decides on a lesser term, it should give special reasons, a division bench of Justice A P Lavande and Justice P D Kode said while setting aside a four year jail term awarded to a youth who was convicted of raping a 10-year-old girl. The judges upped the punishment and sentenced Bhandara resident Dashrath Gupta to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI).

“No evidence was brought on record to justify adequate and special reasons (for awarding a lesser prison term),’’ the judges said. The court came down heavily on the sessions court for handing out a meagre sentence of four years. “The impugned judgment and order discloses total non-application of mind on the part of the learned trial judge,’’ said the HC.

Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code has a special provision while dealing with cases where a girl of under 12 years has been raped (section 376 (2) (f)—the punishment prescribed is a minimum of 10 years rigorous imprisonment. The section further says that “adequate and special reasons’’ have to be given by the trial court if it imposes a jail term of less than 10 years).

Gupta was arrested for raping a Std V student on February 13, 2006. Eight witnesses deposed during the trial. The sessions court convicted Gupta under section 376 of the IPC, without mentioning if the accused was being held guilty under section 376 (2) (f).

Additional public prosecutor T A Mirza argued that as the trial court had come to the conclusion that the victim was a 10-year-old girl, it ought to have imposed a minimum sentence of 10 years. The HC agreed that no reason was mentioned in the judgment for taking a lenient view. The court also directed him to shell out a fine of Rs 1,000.


Religious hotspot Puri is new haunt of paedophiles

Puri: Dear tourist, welcome to the land of Lord Jagannath, enjoy the beach, the sun, the sand and the sea. But keep the beach free of paedophiles, reads a poster at a budget hotel in Puris Chakratirtha area. Such posters, seen at places frequented by tourists, are just an indicator of what’s going on under cover in this holy town.

Unlike other beach tourism hubs such as Goa, Puri till less than a decade ago was not, so to say, conversant with the concept of sex tourism; it retained its distinct identity of being a Hindu pilgrim centre. Child sex abuse was virtually unheard of.

The arrest of a British national at the turn of the millennium and subsequent charges against a couple of other foreigners did raise a few eyebrows. The death of a young girl,believed to have been caused by some sexually transmitted disease, a few years ago,followed by some more reported cases including the arrest of Australian national Paul Allen in November 2008,have only added to growing suspicion that there was more to foreigners increasing preference for Puri than just sun, sea and sand. Sex could very well be the stimulant driving them to come here repeatedly.

Paedophilia cases might not come to notice easily in Puri, but it certainly exists. One can see middle-aged and old men (usually foreigners ) suspiciously moving around or dining with children, local as well from neighbouring states such as West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, a hotelier said. It is not yet a systematic,well-organised affair in Puri, but when lakhs of people visit a small town (over 25,000 people visit Puri daily) and there are so many children belonging to the vulnerable age-group moving on their own on the beach, such things are bound to take place, he said.

NGO activists acquainted with the issue of child sex abuse even go the extent of describing Puri as a corner of the Golden Triangle which has Goa and Mayapur (in West Bengal) completing the imaginary geometrical design, and not Bhubaneswar and Konark as advertised by Orissa tourism bosses. That paedophiles are visiting Puri is to a good extent being accepted by many. But how serious is the problem

Over 100 such cases have come to light in Puri since 2000, revealed Debashis Rath,member,child welfare committee,Puri. According to him,child sex abuse in and around Pentakota,a fishing hamlet,has been reported but it is difficult to establish the charges. Whatever is happening is obviously being done very secretly,especially in clandestine shelter homes that are functioning without any registration with the authorities. We have reasons to believe that such things are going on,but unless a victim speaks up it is impossible to pin down a paedophile, he pointed out.

According to social workers, poverty,lack of adequate education facility in Pentakota area (it has one school for a population of around 40,000) and no restriction on children spending hours on the beach have increased the vulnerability of kids belonging to the 0-13 age group to such kind of abuse.