Almost a quarter of crimes against children reported under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) in 2024 took place in their own homes, according to the annual report of the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights for 2024-25.
The vulnerability of children can be understood from the fact that 1,095 (24%) of the 4,607 crimes took place in the homes of survivors. As many as 634 (14%) of the incidents took place in the offenders’ homes.
Twelve percent of crimes occurred in public spaces, and the same number in other locations such as dormitories, cyberspace, and the homes of relatives of survivors or offenders. Up to 3% of crimes happened in schools (down from 4% in 2023), 2% in vehicles, isolated places and hotels/hostels, and 1% in religious institutions (down from 2% last year) and friends’ houses. Significantly, details of the offense were not provided to the commission in 23% (1,054) of cases.
In addition to the 15% (755) of perpetrators who were “lovers”, 16% (827) were known to the survivor, 10% (511) were family members and the same number were friends (517), 12% (594) were neighbors and 8% (397) were relatives. Fully 3% were teachers and 1% were bus, van or autorickshaw drivers.
In more than a decade, there has been a more than four-fold increase in the number of cases registered under the POCSO Act. In 2013, 1,002 cases of POCSO were reported, according to figures provided by the National Crime Records Bureau to the Children’s Rights Panel. By 2024, this number had increased to 4,607. This is slightly less than the 4,663 POCSO cases reported in 2023.
The highest and the lowest
The maximum number of cases was reported in Thiruvananthapuram district – 602. In Malappuram district, 506 cases of POCSO were reported in 2024. The least was in Kasaragod – 157.
In the 4,607 reported cases, 4,651 children survived, suggesting that in some cases more than one survived. Almost 85% of the 4,651 survivors were girls (3,969) and 14% were boys (658). In these cases, 5,044 were accused, of which 93% were men and 3% were women.
Fifty-three percent of survivors were in the 15–18 age group, 34% in the 10–14 year group, 10% in the 5–9 year group, and 2% in the 0–4 year age group. Among the survivors, 2% (104) were differently-abled children, while 12% were unclear whether they were differently-abled or not, the annual report said.
Self defense training
The panel notes the need to raise awareness of POCSO laws, child-friendly punishments and practices in families, schools and society and provide self-defence training to students. Parents/guardians should take more care to improve children’s ability to react to things they don’t like and give them age-appropriate safety awareness.
Published – 10 Nov 2025 20:04 IST
