Bolpur (WB), Sep 21 (PTI) West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Sudeshna Roy Wednesday voiced concern over the recovery of the body of a five-year-old boy from his neighbour's house in Birbhum and asked people to be more vigilant about instances of child abuse in their localities.

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The society has to become more proactive and each person has to perform his/her role by not turning away if there is any report of abuse of minors in the neighbourhood, she told PTI.

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About the incidents in different parts of the state, Roy said "So far, our information goes the relative and one of the family friends are accused in the murders of the three-year and five-year olds in South 24 Parganas and Birbhum respectively.

The boy had gone missing on Sunday from Moldanga village under Santiniketan police station in Birbhum district. Hi body was found in the roof top of his neighbour's house on Tuesday.

"Brutality on any minor is reprehensible and cannot be accepted. Such events can be averted if we become more alert and have zero tolerance to child abuse rather than merely reacting to them," Roy said referring to the death of the boy in Birbhum.

There has to be more public awareness of child abuse and the parents of a victim should not hush up or hide the matter when the child informs his/her mother about it. This way the offender can be identified at the initial stage and prosecuted, she said.

Referring to the role of the media in such cases, she said it should certainly report cases of child abuse and also report whenever the offenders are arrested in equal measure. The Commission in its turn follows up complaints with urgency and takes action.

Roy said WBCPCR has zero tolerance to physical abuse of children and women and with POCSO courts coming up in recent years there has been a significant number of conviction of offenders and punishment as per law.

There was a rise in reports of physical abuse of children during the pandemic as people were forced to stay indoors, she said.

"Abuses of minors took place in the past too but they did not get reported many times. Apparently with the rise in people's awareness, the increasing role of media as watchdog and the proliferation of the social media, more such cases are coming to light.

"This scenario is good. But we need the wholehearted participation of common people to fight the evil," she added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)