24 February,2010 09:15 AM IST | | Alifiya Khan
The case of a three-week old baby from Mumbai, who survived despite a nail being shoved down her throat, has opened a can of worms. Child rights activists and members of the Child Protection Committee say that this incident isn't isolated.
In fact, they say Pune seems to be leading in child abuse cases.
While anecdotal data from NGOs suggests that such cases have dramatically gone up in the state in the past few years, MiD-DAY obtained call statistics from India's biggest child rights helpline, Childline India. Compared with merely 4,000 calls on a monthly average in 2007, their office registered 23,000 calls last month!
"Pune leads all the other cities in terms of calls. At our review meet it was revealed that most other cities don't get more than 5,000 calls. More cases are being reported in the state and especially in this city," said Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe, founder-director, Pune Childline.
The helpline has centres in 83 cities, and if coordinators are to be believed, Maharashtra logs the maximum number of calls.
Nakul Kate, founder, NGO Sakhee that works for child rights, agreed that Pune is emerging as a major center where cases of child rights abuse are being registered.
"In past few years, Pune and its adjoining belt haveu00a0 reported many torture cases against children as well as
rapes on minors. Abuse cases from slums areas are reported regularly, as compared with middle class homes."
He is currently investigating a case of extreme torture in a middle-class Pune family.
Mini Srinivasan, senior member, Action for Child Rights, said that while sex abuse in children gets highlighted, cases of torture are not taken as seriously.
"While there has been a recent spate of rapes on minors, there has also been an increase in cases of physical torture in schools, homes, and forced labour. Some kids rescued are even below six years of age. Only sexual abuse gets highlighted."
Horror diary
In November last year, the body of a four-year-old girl was found in a jungle near Pune's Kharadi area. The girl's arm had been hacked off.
The police later arrested her father and investigations revealed that it was a case of tantrik killing," said Kate.
Vikas Sawant, member, child welfare committee, Mumbai,u00a0 recalled a horrific incident where a three-month old girl from Govandi was badly burnt with cigarette butts, and made to starve by her mother.
