New Delhi, June 5 (UNI) A national consultation on Child Protection held here on Tuesday deliberated on
the Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012.
Police departments from various states, which were part of the initiative to deliberate issues concerning child
protection and welfare with the state Women and Child Development departments and State Police Departments, besides Ministry of Home Affairs and NCPCR, shared best practices and experiences during the consultation organised by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD).
While the first part of the national consultation focused on deliberations with regard to JJ Act, 2015 and POCSO Act, 2012, Trackchild, Childline (1098) with an objective to introspect on various issues and concerns which have manifested lately, gaps and shortcomings in the processes and identifying solutions for the same, the second part largely focused on the Child Care and Protection issues of CPS Scheme and identify areas
of concern vis-à-vis implementation issues in the states and seek proposals, solutions and way forward.
The WCD Ministry is implementing various laws and schemes including the Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children) Act 2015, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 (POCSO) Act
and Child Protection Services (CPS) under the umbrella ICDS for the Protection of Children from various
abuses and ensuring their best interest. The JJ Act, 2015 mandates upon the state to provide a safety net
to children in need of care and protection as well as children in conflict with law. It provides for institutional
and non-institutional care for these children, along with certain statutory services. The Act is gender neutral
and recognises a person below18 years of age as child.
The Child Protection services, under the umbrella ICDS provide for the safety net of statutory support
services along with institutional and non-institutional facilities to ensure best interest of child. It also provides
for the 24*7 child helpline and an online portal to track the missing children. Under the scheme, 1,508 CCIs
are being supported with average occupancy of 50 children.
Childline has been expanded to 437 locations and Railway childline is functional at 60 major stations.
Track child portal and KhoyaPaya App have been quite successful in restoring the missing children, an
official release here said.
UNI SD SHK 2018