Agra: Even as the case of alleged paedophile Sunil Rastogi made the headlines after Delhi police claimed that the apprehended man had sexually abused around 500 children almost unchecked over a 12-year period, data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of cases (6,715) under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2014 and 2015, the latest years for which data has been released.The state was followed by Tamil Nadu, with 4,133 cases involving 4,162 children, and West Bengal with 2,347 cases in which the same number of children were reported as victims over these two years, according to the NCRB data.UP also reported a total 3,699 cases related to assault or molestation of girls in the two-year period. The data further highlighted that in 97% of the cases reported in 2015, the accused was a person known to the minor, with 623 of the accused being neighbours, while 310 were other known persons.Moreover, according to a CAG report tabled in the UP assembly in August 2015, in the period between 2010 and 2015, 59% of rape victims in the state were below 18 years of age. In this period, out of the total 11,487 cases of rape in the state, 6,829 victims were minors, with most of them (6,020) between 11 and 18 years of age, while 809 were younger than 11 years. The report stated that in the state, out of 25,589 cases of assault on women with intent to outrage their modesty, 14,040 cases were filed by minor girls alone.According to a senior psychologist at the Institute of Mental Health and Hospital of Agra, “In the majority of rape cases where the survivor is a minor, the accused are close relatives, friends or neighbours. People who suffer poor self-esteem, frustration and have no feelings for others search for weak victims such as minors and target them. These offenders are not normal human beings. They are paedophiles.”“Parents should teach their children to say ‘no’. They should make the kids aware about what is good and bad touch. If the child learns these things, if any known person or others approach them in future, the child’s ‘no’ might make the offender think twice about committing the act,” the psychologist added.A senior police official on condition of anonymity said, “At the police station level across all the districts, we have maintained data on sex offenders. Mostly the accused are known to the survivors and we keep a constant vigil on them.”

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