We want to ensure stringent action, says rights panel

More than 100 cases were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) in in West Bengal in the last three-and-a-half months, 2012, a report submitted by the State administration to the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) has revealed.

The highest number of such cases were reported from Bankura district (23), followed by Nadia (16) and Purba Medinipur (10). The children were in the age group of five to 17.

Among the 102 incidents reported to the WBCPCR so far, 45 were rape cases. As many as 223 children suffered molestation. Apart from information given by the police and District Magistrates, the report also includes about 31 cases where WBCPCR had taken suo motu cognisance of incidents of sexual abuse of children from media reports.

WBCPCR chairperson Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti said the purpose of seeking the report was to ensure that cases of sexual abuse of children were strongly dealt with under the stringent POCSO Act. “Since we are the nodal agency for monitoring cases lodged under the Act, we should have an updated database of such cases,” she told The Hindu.

The report mentions incidents where even girls as young as four have been raped. A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped in Bankura’s Simlapal. In Purba Medinipur district’s Tamluk police station area, a five- year-old girl was raped.

Some children were raped by their family members. In North 24 Parganas, a 12-year-old girl was raped by her father and in Nadia district, a 14-year-old girl was raped by her uncle.

As per the latest National Crime Records Bureau report, about 1,100 cases under the POCSO Act were registered in the State in 2015.