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Introduction to Child Rights in India
INTRODUCTION TO CHILD RIGHTS IN INDIA
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) defines a child as a person under 18 years of age. 40 percent of India’s population is below the age of 18 years. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), India contributes to more than 20 percent of child death in the world. There comes the significance of child rights in India.
Children being 2/5th population of the country, it is essential that there must be strict laws to protect their rights. In Indian law there are certain special provisions for children. This is because children cannot be treated as adults. They don’t have the thinking capacity as that of an adult. A child is someone who cannot distinguish between what is right and wrong. Even though there are many provisions protecting children, they are exposed to many atrocities.
India, in 1990, participated in UN General Assembly summit which adopted a Declaration on Survival, Protection, and Development of Children. On 11th December 1992 India gave consent to the UNCRC to protect children’s rights as per the convention.
In the Indian Penal Code, Section 82 and 83 deals with the general exception regarding children. A child below seven years of age cannot be made liable for an offence. Similarly a child above seven and below twelve years of age cannot be made liable if he/she has not attained sufficient maturity to understand the consequences of the offence committed. There are also other sections dealing with children such as section 89, 317, 361, 363, 366A, 369, 372 and 373.
The Indian Constitution guarantees some special rights to all the children which includes:-
- Article 21A- Right to free and compulsory education to all the children between 6-14 years of age.
- Article 24- Right to be protected from any hazardous employment till the age of 14 years
Also Part IV of the Indian Constitution deals with the Directive Principles of State Policy where Article 39(e), 39(f), 41, 45, 46 and 47 specially provides certain policies for the welfare of children.
Apart from the India Penal Code and Indian Constitution there are certain acts and policies protecting children. Some of them are:-
- The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933
- The Employment of Children Act, 1938
- The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000
- Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009
- Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012
- National Policy for Children, 1974
- National Policy on Education, 1986
- National Policy on Child Labour, 1987
- National Health Policy 2002
Even though all these provisions exists, crimes against children has increased by 20 percent as per the analysis by Child Relief and You (CRY). The CRY analysis was based on the 2016-17 report released by the National Crime Records Bureau on October 21st, 2019 after a gap of two years. Among the crimes, kidnapping and abduction was dominating than others. Other crimes included child labour, rape, procuring of minor girls and sexual assault.
Children are always prone to all the crimes. They can be both victim and the culprit. The environment in which a child grows is very important. Children are the future of any country. If they are not given proper education, health or protection it will affect our country. It is our duty to protect the children. If they are not given a proper education, then the tendency to do wrong will be very high for them. If not properly taken care of, they shall be victim to any crime easily.
