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Minor girls at high risk Law & order

The criminal assault on a minor girl allegedly by a Delhi Police constable at Swarup Nagar in the Capital has come as a disgrace to the force. However, the case is no different from those reported from different parts of Delhi earlier this month.

In almost all the cases, the minor victims belonged to the low economic strata indicating that children from poor families, most of whom live in shanties in the far-flung areas of the city, were becoming easy targets for sexual offenders. In most cases, the perpetrators were found to be known to the victims living in the neighbourhood or were relatives. The findings are in consonance with the conclusions derived by the police after analysing the cases of criminal assault on women and girls reported in the city last year.

The police found that 59 per cent of the offenders were neighbours of the victims, 11 per cent were relatives, while only 2 per cent were unknown to the victims. According to the Delhi Police annual report for 2007, as many as 340 of those arrested last year were neighbours of the victims and about 80 per cent of the accused belonged to the poor economic class. The police found that 64 per cent of these incidents took places in houses, 5 per cent in jhuggis and 31 per cent at other places.

The annual report also noted that poor civic amenities, sub-human conditions, inadequate housing facilities and mushrooming of jhuggi clusters were few of the sociological factors contributing to the increased incidence of criminal assaults.

As part of the initiative to check such incidents, the police have undoubtedly taken several measures like setting up help lines and providing counselling to the victims. But very little seems to be happening on the ground by way of improvement. Though campaigns are launched to spread awareness about the rights and services available to women, a large section of the vulnerable group is still in the dark.

This lacuna can be removed by carrying out a study identifying pockets where possibilities of such incidents are high. The police can involve local leaders and school teachers to create awareness among the children and their parents about various preventive measures that they should take. Also, there should be round-the-clock police presence in these areas. To ensure that these efforts have the desired impact, it is also vital that the ground level police staff realise the importance of treating the poor with respect. A crucial aspect of affirmative action is to give priority to the problems of the disadvantaged.

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