Islamabad, Jan 22 (IANS) As many as 3,364 child abuse cases were reported in Pakistan with nine children facing some form of abuse each day in Pakistan, a report has highlighted citing increase in crimes against children in the country and urging the police departments to implement a child-centred policing approach.

The real picture is even more bleak as most of the cases are not even reported. The mistreatment of children is not only a crime under law but also showcases the poor moral health of a society, according to an opinion piece in The News International which detailed data from NGO Sahil’s Cruel Numbers 2025 report.

In his opinion piece for The News International, police officer Numan Bacha wrote, "Child safety has become a buzzword in recent times. There is no two ways about it: the role of the police is crucial when it comes to child safety. Much has been written on child safety, but there is little debate on police interaction with children in Pakistan."

"While tackling crimes against children is an essential part of policing, it is equally important to ensure that every police interaction with a child is positive and productive. Merely responding to crimes against children is not enough. Police departments across the country need to adopt a child-centred policing approach," it added.

According to the report, majority of police personnel do not have knowledge on how to deal with children professionally. Police training programmes symbolically address child safety issue, however, they do not produce police officers who are friendly with children.

"I recently came across a video of a child recorded from behind the bars of a police station lock-up. The police had taken him into custody because he had allegedly used vulgar language against the police of that area in a video shared on social media. This raises a separate debate about whether such comments constitute a crime. The immediate concern, however, is how the police responded to what they framed as a crime by a child. Did the police respond responsibly? Once again, the answer is no. His identity was disclosed on social media in a video apology, which violated Section 13 of the Juvenile System Act, 2018," the police officer wrote.

This, he highlighted, is not the only case as rights of children are frequently violated, intentionally and unintentionally, by those supposed to protect them. Police personnel often do not maintain confidentiality of child victims and offenders. Police departments in Pakistan need to adopt child-focused policing approach.

--IANS

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