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MUMBAI: Maharashtra is the state where the maximum number of cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were registered in the country during 2017-2019. Of this number, 8,503, in nearly 50% of the cases minors were lured online into meeting people who then subjected them to sexual abuse or entered into sexual relationships with the promise of marriage. In law, maintaining a physical relationship with someone below the age of consent is statutory rape.
On the list of states, Maharashtra is followed by UP with 6,978 cases, MP (5,348), Karnataka (4,339) and Gujarat (4,228). The three-year data was released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 2019 being the last year for which NCRB statistics are available.