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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
The Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) in collaboration with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) organised a regional workshop to discuss various aspects of child rights, their application and violation at the Chandigarh Judicial Academy today.
The workshop was inaugurated by Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki. He felicitated the students of Delhi Public School, Sector 40, who will organise a workshop on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act for junior class students. The representatives of the state commissions, Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Child Welfare Committee (CWC), schoolteachers and children were in attendance.
While addressing the gathering, Yashwant Jain, member, NCPCR, stressed upon the rise in cyber crime and the possibility of children falling prey to harassment online. “There is still a lot of grey area regarding cyber laws. Parents need to be more aware about cyber crimes. We are also leveraging Aadhaar to locate families of missing children.”
Harjinder Kaur, Chairperson, CCPCR, said: “The POCSO e-box is a major step to protect child rights and students can post their complaints about harassment online. I have asked the schools to set up child-friendly committees and focus on counselling.”
Dr Anita Rampal, professor and former dean, Faculty of Education, Delhi University, said the school children were subjected to harassment due to segregation and hierarchies based on marks.
She pointed out that due to improper implementation of the Right to Education Act, a lot of children were being ‘pushed’ out of the system. “There is a problem with the term ‘drop-outs’. Students are leaving because they are not learning,” she said.
“Though the Act emphasizes on learning through activity, discovery and application, the system rewards cramming and rote learning. The classrooms has to be democratic,” she added.
Dr BS Chavan, Director, Government Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disabilities (GRIID), Chandigarh, spoke about the problems associated with homeless children and their rehabilitation.
“The physical morbidity in street children was significantly greater than normal children. About 50-60 per cent suffered from intellectual disabilities, autism, cerebral palsy, tuberculosis, lung infection, depression and anxiety,” he said.
He said, “The tendency was to resort to violence and drugs as a coping mechanism. It has been estimated that every year about 35,000 children are separated from their families and land on streets.”
“We have sent a proposal to set up separate de-addiction centres for women and children. After rehabilitation, we focus on engaging people in a vocation,” he added.
Nishtha Jaswal, member, CCPCR, stressed upon the statutory requirements in the POCSO Act that the police and JJB officials had been routinely violating. “In some cases, the victim is taken to the police station in the same car as the accused. The statements are recorded under duress,” she said.
She said that about 40 per cent sexual abuse cases were never reported.
Dr KP Singh, DG (Prisons), Haryana, said the police
officials were violating the provisions of the new Juvenile Justice Act 2015. He urged the JJB officials to raise such issues in their monitoring meetings.
He highlighted the role of poverty, socio-economic conditions and the lack of education in abetting crime among the street children.
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