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Laying the primary foundation for child rights protection in India

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Photo cc: Pratham Books

Photo cc: Pratham Books

Last year in the month of May, 455 children were trafficked to Kerala from states like Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. These children accompanied by 33 adults, including agents and a few parents, were caught by railway police in Palakkad on charges of ticketless travelling and for want of ID documents. The children were supposedly travelling to the orphanages run in the districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram.

Last month, acting on a public interest litigation filed by CRY partner Rajendra Prasad, founder of NGO Thampu, a division bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday ordered a CBI probe into the trafficking of children from north and north-eastern states to orphanages in Kerala. The bench of Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan asked the CBI to step in despite the state government opposing probe by a central agency and stated that all orphanages in Kerala should be brought under the purview of the Juvenile Justice Act. The court directed the district administration and child welfare committees at the district-level to ensure that proper legal procedure is followed while bringing children from other states.

The High Court order has been a landmark one in the juvenile Justice jurisprudence of the state because altogether the number of children in such orphanages are said to be more than 50,000 children and up until now no government machinery including Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has had any access to them which also means there was no monitoring framework for these orphanages.

The judgement squarely fixes the responsibility of the state in ensuring the fundamental rights of the child. Furthermore it recognizes every child as an integral part of the state and the role of the state in ensuring their integral rights of protection, survival and their development. The High court order can also be seen as a paradigm shift from welfare to rights and clearly places JJ Act as a primary legislation for protection of children. It also reiterates that the Juvenile Justice Act overrides the other legislations with respect to protection of children in homes. Moreover it also establishes that family responsibility, last resort (institutionalisation) and of repatriation and reintegration remains non-negotiable.

Children as young as 5 were separated from their parents at an age when love, care, attention, security provided by the family is like oxygen to the emotional development of the child. The children brought to another state with alien culture and language. It is a challenge for children not only to adjust to these changes at a tender age but also be ready to face various risks of harm, exploitation and abuse. It also raises the basic question that why would children need to go across these distances to receive basic education or support when their own state is also committed to the same basic rights of the children. This amounts to grave compromise of the basic elements which would enable their holistic development.

The said judgment has ensured a check on the ever mushrooming orphanages. The registration of all orphanages under the JJ Act shall ensure transparency and accountability on the part of these orphanages as each case would be reported to the CWC and the orphanage would come under the purview of the monitoring framework under the JJ Act. This has redefined the Juvenile Justice jurisprudence in the state.

The post Laying the primary foundation for child rights protection in India appeared first on The Alternative.


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