Nagaland records lowest crime against girl child in NE

Eastern Mirror Desk

Dimapur, Jan.16 (EMN): Nagaland has the lowest number of cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, girl child victims only, among the north-eastern states in 2018 according to a crime report released by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). A total of 11 such cases were reported in the state during the year.

The NCRB reported that Maharashtra had the highest number of cases in this category with 6,282 in 2018, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with 5,791 and 2,396 cases respectively.

The number of crime was tabulated under three sub-categories namely, child rape (Sec. 4 and 6 of POCSO Act /Sec. 376 IPC), sexual assault of children (Sec. 8 and 10 of POCSO Act /Sec. 354 IPC) and sexual harassment (Sec. 12 of POCSO Act /Sec. 509 IPC).

Nagaland reported eight cases of child rape and three cases under sexual assault of children. The report further indicated that among the 11 cases reported in Nagaland, the victims in 10 cases knew the offenders while one offender was a family member.

Out of the 38,802 cases reported in the country, NCRB reported that 14,722 cases were pending investigation. It also stated that 778 cases were categorised as 'cases true but insufficient evidence or untraced or no clue’. There were 237 such cases in Nagaland while one case was abated during investigation.

Nagaland had 180 cases for trial, out of which 138 cases were pending trial from the previous year, while 42 cases were sent for trial during 2018. The report further indicated that 29 trial cases were completed while 29 cases were disposed of by courts.