The Legalities for Child Protection

Children of a society are the future of the society. It is therefore necessary to protect the children from various exploitation. Child abuse has become prevalent in the Indian society and has increased drastically since the last decades. Child abuse can be in any form – physical, emotional, sexual or neglect. It is important to make the children as well the society aware about the causes and effects of child abuse. To counter this problem of child abuse, there are various laws and acts in India that cat as protective cove for the children. The constitution of India has the provisions to ensure the development, protection and empowerment of children. There are multiple provisions that impose the primary responsibility of the state to promote welfare of the children. Following are the laws, acts and provision that help in doing so.

Fundamental Rights: -

1. Article 14 which ensures that man, woman and child are equal before law

2. Article 15 that provides for prohibition of discrimination along with empowering the state to make special provisions for children and women

3. Article 21A which makes its mandatory to provide free and compulsory education to children in age group of 6 t o14 years.

4. Article 23 that prohibits human trafficking and forced labour

5. Article 24 that prohibits child labour or employment of children under the age of 14 in hazardous work surroundings

Directive Principles of State Policy: -

1. Article 39(e) that asks the State to ensure the health of workers, men and women and the children are not abused  

2. Article 39(f) that asks the State to ensure that children are provided with opportunities and facilities to develop and are protected against exploitation and against abandonment.

3. Article 45 that asks the State to ensure early childhood care and education for all children until the age of six years

Other Provisions

1. Article 51A-(k) that has fundamental duty of parents or guardians to provide opportunities for education to their child/ward between the age of 6 and 14 years

There are also various acts and amendment that enhance the rights and protect the children form abuse and help them grow in a healthy environment. They are as follows: -

1. Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 led to the setting up of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in the year 2007. It works for preserving the rights of children, spreading awareness against child abuse and providing proper redressal to the victims.

2. Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 which prevents child marriage; it defines a child as a male below 21 years and a female below 18 years.

3. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 is a special law to deal with cases of child abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment and related offences. The POCSO cell has been set up to monitor it’s working.

The government and judiciary of India are trying their best to bring this child abuse to an end, but unless and until the society does not understand the effect that abuse has over children, it will be difficult to bring it under control. It is up to the citizens to keep any look out for the safety of the children and report any atrocities.