Our Reporter
Dimapur, Dec. 2 (EMN): Child abuse and neglect as a social problem is gaining public attention in Nagaland as accounts of such maltreatments are said to have reached an alarming proportion.
A police officer said that many people have fond memories of childhood but there are also many who have been deprived of that privilege rights and their rights denied. Child trafficking is also linked to child labour and it always leads to child abuse, he said.
“When any case of crime against a child arises, the women police station tie up with NGOs and work it out to find the best way for them,” a police officer informed.
He said that poverty may be the main cause of child labour, but that are many other factors like lack of strong political will, family expectations and traditions, lack of good schools and day care, lack of other services such as healthcare, public opinion that downplays the risk of early work for children, lack of stringent cognitive legislators, discrimination against children, coercive state population policies and their impact on children, low wages etc.
The police officer said that this menace can be curbed by not hiring children, strengthening economic support to families, changing social norms to support parents and positive parenting, providing quality care and education in early life, among other measures.
He also informed that four cases have been registered with the women police station in Dimapur under POCSO Act this year (till November), out of which two have been solved and two pending, as compared to 18 cases in 2017, 12 in 2018 and eight in 2019. He went on to inform that 35 cases of crime against women and children have been registered at women police station, Dimapur, this year.
Crime against women and children from January-November
| Types of crime | Total cases |
| Kidnapping | 9 |
| Cyber crime under IT act | 4 |
| Murder | 6 |
| Attempt to murder | 4 |
| Rape | 4 |
| Domestic violence | 1 |
| Others | 3 |
| Molestation | 4 |
| Total | 35 |
