RIGHTS OF CHILDREN

Karishma Shah
TYLLB
Roll No - 349
Division - D
 CONTENTS
• Introduction
• History of child rights
• Child rights in india
• Crimes against children
 INTRODUCTION
• Children and childhood across the world, have
broadly been construed in terms of a ‘golden age’
that is synonymous with innocence, freedom, joy,
play and the like.
• It is the time when one hardly shoulders any kind of
responsibility or obligations. But it is also true that
children are vulnerable, especially when very young.
• The fact that children are vulnerable, they need to be
cared for and protected from ‘the harshness of the
world outside’ and around
• This being so, the adult-child relation, parents in
particular, is said to provide ‘care and protection’ –
serving thereby the ‘best interests of the child’ and
meeting their day-to-day ‘needs of survival and
development’.
• It is believed that childhood is that period during
which children are subjected to a set of rules and
regulations unique to them, and one that does not
apply to members of other social categories. It is
thus not a world of freedom and opportunity but
one of confinement and limitation in which children
are ‘wholly subservient and dependent’.
 History of child rights
• One of the earliest recognitions of children’s rights
perhaps is found in the Massachusetts Body of
Liberties of 1641 where parents are told not to
choose their children’s mates and not to use
unnatural severity against their children.
• Children, furthermore, were given ‘free liberty to
complain to the Authorities for redress’. But this was
also the law that prescribed the death penalty for
children over 16 who disobeyed parents.
• The private agencies also felt the need to provide
broad social standards for the protection of children.
Of particular importance was the Save the Children
International Union, inspired largely by the work of
Eglantyne Jebb, who had founded Save the Children
in response to her own experience with child victims
of war.
• In 1923, the Save the Children International Union
adopted as its charter a five-point declaration which
described the basic conditions a society should meet
in order to provide adequate protection and care for
its children. The next year, the Union persuaded the
League of Nations to adopt the same declaration.
 Child Rights in India
• The Constitution of India recognizes the vulnerable
position of children and their right to protection.
• Article 15 in the Constitution guarantees special
attention to children through necessary and special
laws and policies that safeguard their rights.
• The Right to equality, protection of life and personal
liberty and the right against exploitation are
enshrined in Articles 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 23 and 24.
• India has adopted a number of laws and formulated a
range of policies to ensure children’s protection and
improvement in their situation including,
• The Guardian and Wards Act 1890,
• Factories Act 1948,
• Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956,
• Probation of Offenders Act 1958,
• Bombay Prevention of Begging Act 1959,
• Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes (Supervision
and Control) Act 1960
• National Policy for Children 1974,
• Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976,
• Child Marriage and Restraint Act 1979,
• Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1986,
• Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986,
• National Policy on Education 1986,
• Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act 1987,
• National Policy on Child Labour 1987
 NCPCR
• The National Commission for Protection of Child
Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under
the Commission for Protection of Child Rights
Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005).
• The Commission's Mandate is to ensure that all
Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative
Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child
Rights perspective as enshrined in the
Constitution of India and also the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child.
• The Child is defined as a person in the 0 to 18
years age group.
 Crimes Against Children
• Punishment for cruelty – imprisonment for a term of six
months or fine, or both.
• Employment for begging – imprisonment may extend up
to three years and also fine
• Penalty for giving psychotropic substance – imprisonment
may extend up to three years and also fine
• Exploitation of child employees - imprisonment may
extend up to three years and also fine (except upon the
advice of a duly qualified medical practitioner)
• Crime against children are cognizable offences
➢On receipt of compliant, the police must arrest the
perpetrator
➢Police must file an FIR
➢Police will release the child on bail.
Thank you