The outrage over the gruesome murder and possible rape of a two-and-half-year-old girl from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh is reminiscent of the furore following the Kathua rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl a year ago.
In both cases, the local administration reacted after much protests and agitations by locals. The Aligarh girl was kidnapped and murdered only because her parents committed the crime of seeking Rs 10,000 that were due to them from the accused, Mohammed Zahid, and his family.
Sulking Zahid kidnapped the child for two days seeking revenge and later killed her with the help of others. The murder came to light only after dogs found her maggot-infested body at a neighbouring dump yard. The post mortem has revealed a broken arm and leg, and while it is yet to be ascertained if the child was raped or not, the brutality of her killing in itself is not less severe.
For just 10,000 rupees, the accused ended a life that had barely begun. The powers that be have woken up from the slumber and the accused have been now charged under the National Security Act. Five policemen have been suspended for their negligence and speedy trial and conviction has been promised.
The National Crime Records Bureau report released in 2016 has shown how crimes against children have gone up by 11 per cent in just one year. An analysis by Child Relief and You is even more alarming — the number of crimes against children went up by a staggering 500 per cent between 2006 and 2016.
Just five states have recorded over 50 per cent of these crimes and Uttar Pradesh (where Aligarh is situated) tops the list at 15 per cent, followed closely by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh at 14 per cent and 13 per cent. The deep dive further shows how almost half these crimes are kidnapping and abduction.
The next biggest crime is rape at 18 per cent, which means two in three crimes against children are either kidnapping or rape. And yet the apathy shown by the police when parents go to register a complaint regarding their missing child is appalling. The parents are made to run from pillar to post, wait endlessly till a kind officer decides to take their complaint seriously and launches serious effort to track down the kid.
The outrage over the Aligarh killing is understandable but is of any use only if it translates into systemic changes. Supreme Court has laid down a set of guidelines back in 2002. But it took a Nithari for National Human Rights Council to set up a panel to examine the cases of missing children in the country. In 2009, the Ministry of Women and Child recognised the need for a portal and a network to trace missing children. It took another four years for the portal to become a reality.
When things move at such snail’s pace, there’s little surprise that the authorities do not take missing children complaints seriously. One can only wonder if the kid could have been saved, had the police acted with much alacrity as soon as the parents reported she went missing.