By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Sept. 12: Cases of crime against children, such as sexual violence and rape, murder, child marriage, child labour, trafficking, malnutrition, corporal punishment, suicide and kidnapping continue unabated in the country despite enforcement of stringent laws against them.
A compilation and analysis of the news on the same published in various media by National Child Rights Council (NCRC) shows that as many as 654 crimes against children were reported in the fiscal year 2018/19 in which 1080 children were affected.
Rape and sexual incidents topped the category of offences with 252 cases followed by death cases of 24. Likewise, it reported 196 cases of child marriage, 96 of trafficking, 65 of murder, 38 of malnutrition, 37 of corporal punishment, 27 of suicide, 12 of kidnapping and four of illegal abortion.
Of the 1080 violence affected children, 618 (57%) were girls, 441 (41 %) were boys and 21 were infants (4 %), the report revealed.
Similarly, of 252 rape and sexual violence cases, in 234 (93 %) girls were victimized and 18 (7%) boys were subjected. Similarly, 26 girls were subjected to gang rape and the youngest victim of rape was a nine-month girl from Sarlahi. She was raped by 14-year-old boy of her neighbourhood.
Majority of girls who were subjected to rape were aged between 11 and 18 years while 25 girls were aged below five years.
According to the report, 74 victims were subjected to rape by known person, 72 were raped by neighbours, 38 by family members (19 by father), 27 by teachers/principal, army/police and government official and six domestic workers were raped by their masters and 17 were raped by their landlords.
The new penal code has prohibited child marriage in Nepal and has increased the marriageable age to 20 years. However, children below the permissible age continue to be married off, the report read.
The data with NCRC shows that there were 196 cases of child marriage, in which 59 boys and 137 girls were affected.
Likewise, during the same period six boys and 21 girls have committed suicide, 59 boys and 37 were subjected to trafficking and 10 boys and two girls were abducted, the report added.
The report further shows that of the total 65 murder meted out against children, 27 children were killed in household dispute, 20 children who were born with illicit relation were killed during the period, 13 children were killed by step-parents and five children were killed after abduction.
According to the data made public by the NCRC , State:1 has the highest number of violence against children with 131 cases, followed by State:3 with 117 cases.