LS passes Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 24

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021

Earlier, the government brought the historic bill in Lok Sabha to prioritise children in administration by making district magistrates accountable for child protection in their areas besides granting DMs powers to monitor shelter homes and pass adoption orders.

“We can’t wait for our children to become victims...serious lapses have been found in the audit of 7000 child shelter homes in India. For the first time in the history of Independence, we are going to prioritise children in administration. India’s children will, henceforth, be part of the list of administrative priority of DMs,” said the Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani while introducing the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Amendment Bill 2021.

The Bill besides making DMs responsible for inspection, review and monitoring of child care institutions, also defines offences under which 16 to 18-year-olds can be tried as adults.

The minister cited a shocking instance from Bhagalpur in Bihar to make the case for amendments. She spoke about boys home in the district where children left notes in the complaint box for years pleading to be rescued from the rescue Home, but no one learnt of the crisis because the keys of the complaint box were with the child Home management.

“When finally the box was opened, cries of help from children blurted out,” revealed Irani—noting, that it was time to make child welfare committees accountable for lapses and to define the line of responsibility in respect of children.

Irani said the audit of 7000 homes by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had shown that 29 pc homes were not registered despite the mandatory requirement under the 2015 amendment.

“Serious findings of the audit include—26 pc have no child welfare officer; one fourth have no bathing area; three-fifth have no toilet; one third have no drinking water source; 50 pc Don’t have separate beds for children, and one fourth said they had never been inspected by a CWC,“ Irani informed the house.

She later spoke of a four-year-old from Prayagraj who wasn’t put up for adoption until she turned 12.

“It took a citizens’ complaint to NCPCR to help the girl,” Irani said justifying powers to DMs in the amendment Bill to issue adoption orders, something only courts hitherto did.

The minister said that about 900 adoption cases were pending in courts for disposal. Noting that a mechanism to ensure CWC members were qualified and accountable was overdue.

“We are empowering DMs to protect children. Today’s reform is a human pledge not of government but this parliament. Politics can divide us but protection of children is an issue that concerns all of us,” said Irani.

Speaking on the Bill Patiala MP Preneet Kaur said the government must carefully consider whether overburdened DMs will be able to yield the desired results.