MUMBAI: A state in western India has launched a mobile app for people to report child abuse, in an effort to protect children after a series of abuses came to light.

The Maharashtra State Child Rights Protection Commission launched the Child Helpline for Information on Rights and Address Grievances (Chirag), a mobile application for Android phones that also provides information on children’s rights, including legislation.

Registering a complaint on the app will send an email to the commission, which will direct it to police or a child-rights charity. A statewide campaign is being rolled out to create awareness in schools, offices and elsewhere, Munde said.

Officials in Maharashtra said earlier this week they had set up a special investigation team to look into allegations of sexual abuse of at least 12 girls at a boarding school for tribal children.

That came on the heels of an inquiry by the National Human Rights Commission into the deaths of more than 700 indigenous children in the past decade in state-run schools in Maharashtra.

India is the world’s second biggest market for mobile phones, with more than one billion users. Use of smartphones is increasing on the back of rising incomes.—Thomson Reuters Foundation

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2016