NEW DELHI: Nearly nine in 10 cybercrimes against children in India in 2024 involved the transmission of sexually explicit content depicting children, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.
Crimes against children have continued to rise despite an overall decline in crime across the country, the latest NCRB figures show.
A total of 1,87,702 cases of crimes against children were registered across India in 2024, an increase of 5.8 per cent from 1,77,335 cases in 2023.
In contrast, total crimes in India decreased by about 10.8 percent over the past four years, from 66.01 thousand cases in 2020 to 58.86 thousand cases in 2024.
During the same period, crimes against children rose sharply from 1,28,531 cases in 2020 to 1,87,702 cases in 2024, representing an alarming rise of over 46 per cent.
An analysis of the latest NCRB data by CRY – Child Rights and You shows that 1,238 cases were registered under the IT Act in relation to cyber crimes against children in 2024, accounting for nearly 0.7 per cent of all crimes against children.
Of these cases, 1,099 cases included publishing or transmitting material depicting children engaging in explicit sexual acts, while all other categories combined amounted to only 139 cases.
According to a CRY analysis of state-level NCRB data, Chhattisgarh recorded the highest number of cybercrimes against children with 268 cases, followed by Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. Together, these five states accounted for 66.4 percent of all such cases recorded in the country.
“The recent cybercrime trends revealed by the National Cybercrime Council once again underscore why children’s safety in the online space must remain a national priority,” said Soha Moitra, Program Director at CRY – Children’s Rights and You. “In today’s hyper-connected world increasingly shaped by algorithms and artificial intelligence, protecting children online is no longer just about controlling screens.”
The NCRB data also highlights the continuing trend of sexual crimes against children, with a total of 69,191 cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act in 2024, a crime rate of 15.6 per thousand children.
Girls accounted for 43,675 of the 44,567 victims registered under Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act, which deals with penetrative sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault, making up 98 per cent of the victims. Boys represented 892 victims.
Children between the ages of 16 and 18 constituted the largest number of victims, with 23,497 cases recorded in this category. Girls constitute 99.5 percent of the victims in this age group.
The data further showed that in 96.6 per cent of POCSO cases registered under Sections 4 and 6, the perpetrator was known to the child.
Of the 44,126 such cases, 42,634 cases involved known criminals, while only 1,492 cases involved unknown persons.
Among known offenders, the largest category consisted of friends, online friends or live-in partners under the pretext of marriage, accounting for 22,308 cases. Family friends, neighbours, employers and other known people together accounted for 16,668 cases, while family members themselves were offenders in 3,658 cases.
“The increasing scale of crimes against children, both online and offline, requires much greater public awareness, stronger societal vigilance, strong redress mechanisms, and faster delivery of justice,” Moitra said.
She added that besides ensuring preventive education and access to safe reporting mechanisms, there must also be strong and swift punitive measures against perpetrators to send an unambiguous message that crimes against children will not be tolerated in any form.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
