Maharashtra has emerged as the state with the highest number of crimes against children in the country, recording 24,171 cases in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data analysed by Child Rights Organisation Child Rights and You (CRY).
The state also reported the highest number of kidnapping and abduction cases involving children at 12,994, the maximum across India. In terms of crime rate per lakh child population, Maharashtra stood second with 66.9, after Madhya Pradesh.
The data paints a worrying picture for child safety in the state, particularly for girls. Out of 3,495 children reported missing in Maharashtra in 2024, girls accounted for 2,057 cases (57.1%). The total active pool of missing children stood at 5,540, including 3,165 girls.
Despite these challenges, the state managed to trace and recover 3,737 children, including 2,123 girls, achieving a recovery rate of 67.5 per cent. However, 1,803 children, including 1,042 girls, remained untraced at the end of 2024.
Nationally, crimes against children rose to 1,87,702 cases in 2024 — a massive increase of nearly 110 per cent since 2014. Missing children cases across the country increased to 1,47,175, with girls constituting 75.6 per cent of the total.
Kreeanne Rabadi, Regional Director, CRY – West, said, “It is time we need to review and strengthen our existing monitoring and legal systems. Protection of the girl child has always been the top priority for last few years but unfortunately the trends highlighted in the data speak otherwise.”
Experts call for improved child protection systems
She emphasised the need for greater collaboration between government and civil society organisations to protect both girls and boys.
The CRY analysis has called for stronger tracing mechanisms, better inter-state coordination, faster investigations, and focused interventions, especially for adolescent girls, to address this growing concern.
`9 in 10 cybercrimes against children involve sexually explicit material`
In a disturbing trend, nine out of every 10 cybercrimes against children in India involve publishing or transmitting sexually explicit material, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2024.
The NCRB report reveals a sharp rise in crimes against children even as overall crime numbers in the country have declined. A total of 1,87,702 cases of crimes against children were registered across India in 2024, marking a 5.8 per cent increase from 1,77,335 cases in 2023.
Over the past four years, crimes against children have surged by more than 46 per cent — from 1,28,531 cases in 2020 to 1,87,702 cases in 2024. In contrast, overall crimes in India dropped by nearly 10.8 per cent during the same period.