Childline centres have come to the rescue of 1,100 children who were subjected to abuses of various kinds in 11 districts in the State during the 2011-12 financial year.
The children rescued had been subjected to sexual, physical, mental, and emotional abuse.
The Childline centre in Malappuram, which intervened to rescue 233 such children, topped the list followed by the centres in Kasargod and Thrissur that rescued 176 children each.
ADVERTISEMENT
In Kozhikode and Kannur, the number of children rescued stood at 160 and 117 respectively. In Wayanad 90 children were rescued while it was 75 in Idukki 41 in Ernakulam, 28 in Thiruvananthapuram, 11 in Kollam, and three in Kottayam.
While the figures for Idukki Childline centre were for the period between July 2011 and May 2012, the figures for Kottayam were for the period between December 2011 and May 2012 whereas it covered between November 2011 and good part of June 2012 in the case of Kollam Childline centre.
Figures from the Palakkad and Pathanamthitta Childline centres were not available while a centre is yet to start functioning in Alapuzha district.
ADVERTISEMENT
Childline sources said that not all abuse cases have been registered with the police as the victims and their immediate relatives were reluctant, due to the stigma associated with it.
In many cases, the children were victims of abuse by their immediate family members and even at school.
Counselling
Childline centres have provided emotional support and guidance through counselling to 7,957 children troubled by various hardships.
Centres in the Malabar regions received the most number of calls on this count with Kozhikode logging 2,398 calls followed by Wayanad and Malappuram with 2,134 calls and 1,036 calls respectively. Kannur (686), Ernakulam (500), Thrissur (401), Idukki (398), Kasargod (264), Thiruvananthapuram (69), Kollam (41), and Kottayam (30) came next.
Childline centres have restored 239 children with their families within the State and outside.
The centre at Thiruvananthapuram topped the list by restoring 70 children followed by Kozhikode (37), Malappuram (31), Ernakulam (30), Kannur (24), Wayanad (15), Kottayam (13) Thrissur (8), Kasargod (7), and Idukki (5).
Cases of 153 missing children have been reported with the Childline centres during the last fiscal.
Most number of missing cases were reported with the centre at Ernakulam (34), followed by Thiruvananthapuram (31), Malappuram (30), Kannur (21), Thrissur (14), Kollam (08), Kasargod (06), Wayanad (05), Kozhikode (03), and Idukki (01).