The brutal rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu’s Kathua district has shocked India, but it is not an isolated case. Crimes against children have been on the rise in India.
2016 saw a sharp spike of 82% in incidents of child rape as compared to 2015, shows National Crime Records Bureau data. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu registered the highest increases.
19,765 cases of rape were registered in 2016 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, as opposed to 10,854 in 2015.