Mumbai Feb 19 PTI The Shiv Sena has urged the Centre to withdraw the recent amendment to the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2021 which will ensure that no FIRs are registered in serious offences against children except with special permission from a judicial magistrate Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has written to Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani urging her to rectify the amendment and restore cognisable status of such offences The amendment will have a devastating impact on children as it shields perpetrators who employ and exploit children for begging labour and smuggling drugs Chaturvedi said The Sena leader lamented that these grave offences will not attract registration of FIRs and automatic investigation because of the amendment On one hand the Centre talks of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and on the other hand it brings forward an amendment that ensures that no FIRs are registered for serious offences against children except with special permission from a judicial magistrate she said The Central government had made changes in the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 through an amendment in 2021 which makes serious offences against children non-cognisable Serious offences can attract three to seven years of imprisonment PTI MR ARU ARU

New Delhi Dec 25 PTI The Women and Child Development Ministry took a slew of measures in 2021 like introducing a bill to raise the marriageable age of women to 21 tackling rising malnutrition during the pandemic and ensuring safety and rehabilitation of over a lakh children who lost either of their parents to CovidEven though children remained less susceptible to COVID-19 about 132 lakh of them lost either of their parents and were at an increased risk of being exploited and trafficked proving to be a major concern for the ministryOver 9800 children were orphaned 508 abandoned and 132 lakh lost either of their parents since April 2020 to December 7 this year during the pandemic the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights NCPCR saidTaking cognisance of the issue the government earlier this year launched PM CARES for Children a scheme that lends support to kids who were orphaned during the pandemicNCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said in 2021 they worked on the social impact of COVID-19 on childrenWe tried that children who were lost during 2021 do not get lost and their care could be ensured as per the provisions of the juvenile justice act he told PTIHe said the biggest challenge next year would be to resolve the issue of street childrenWe are working to make states roll out our SOP on street children and we have Supreme Court direction in this regard and we will work as per it We will also work on substance abuse among children its action plan we will implement and thirdly different stakeholders in juvenile justice act their proper orientation must be done and helping POCSO victims - psychological social financial help is another focus area of NCPCR NCPCR would do district wise mapping on what is lacking in each state and what could be done to fill the gaps he saidTwo key bills introduced this year were the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Amendment Bill 2021 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Amendment Bill 2021To tackle child marriage the government introduced the Prohibition of Child Marriage Amendment Bill 2021 under which the marriagable age of women was increased to 21 from 18 drawing a mixed reaction from experts and activistsA bill that seeks to fix 21 years as the uniform age of marriage for women and men was introduced in Lok Sabha The bill was referred to a standing committeeThe Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Amendment Bill 2021 which sought to amend the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 proposed to increase the role of district magistrates and additional district magistrates with issues concerning child care and adoption was passed in Parliament and has come into forceThe central government also brought out regulations to ease inter-country adoptions under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act HAMATackling rising malnutrition among women and children due to pandemic was another major concern of the ministry this year The Poshan Tracker developed as a governance tool for real-time monitoring of nutritional outcomes was implemented in different states Anganwadis were trained to use it for entering nutrition data of children and lactating and pregnant women in the appNational Commission for Women NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said 2021 witnessed many firsts for women across the globe be it the extraordinary performance of women in Olympics or women of Indian origin achieving heights globallyNCW launched projects in different fields concerning women including entrepreneurship digital literacy legal awareness etc she saidNCW has also launched a 24x7 hour helpline to provide assistance to women facing violence and sexual harassment The new helpline aims to provide 24 hours emergency and non-emergency services to women affected by violence by linking them with appropriate authorities such as police hospitals District Legal Service Authority psychological services etc and providing information about women related government programs she saidOn what to expect next year Sharma said one of the major concerns would be changing the mindset of people because as we can see despite several changes in policies and laws and several new initiatives launched by the government the mindset of people remains to be a major roadblock in the development and progress of women It is important that we ensure gender equality at homes so that it is reflected in societyThis year WCD ministry classified all its major programmes under three umbrella schemes -- Mission Poshan 20 strengthen nutritional content delivery outreach and outcomes Mission Vatsalya child protection services and child welfare services and Mission Shakti policies and schemes for protection and empowerment of women -- for their better implementation PTI UZM ZMN

Thane Nov 25 PTI An offence has been registered against three persons for allegedly selling and purchasing a newborn boy for Rs 1 lakh in Maharashtras Thane district police said on Thursday Based on a complaint lodged by an NGO the Dombivili police on Wednesday registered an offence under relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2015 against a couple and a doctor an official said According to the complaint the accused was pregnant from her second husband and she already had children from her first marriage and the couple were finding it difficult to manage the family The woman sought an abortion but the accused doctor advised her instead to sell her baby the official said The woman delivered a boy on November 10 and a few days later she took her newborn son to the doctor and sold him for Rs 1 lakh he said After a few days when the woman asked the doctor to return her baby the doctor did not entertain her request following which she approached an NGO with a complaint the official said Further probe is underway to find out if the accused doctor had purchased and sold infants in a similar manner in the past he added PTI COR ARU ARU

New Delhi [India], November 6 (ANI): The Delhi High Court has issued various directions for streamlining the process of inquiries relating to minors in conflict with the law, and for scrupulous compliance by all concerned authorities.

New Delhi Oct 28 PTI The Women and Child Development Ministry has invited suggestions from all stakeholders on draft amendments to the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Model Rules 2016 which include provisions for increasing the role of district magistrates and additional district magistrates on issues concerning child care and adoption The Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Model Rules are being revised according to the recently passed Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Amendment Act 2021 The amendments include authorising district magistrate additional district magistrate to issue adoption orders under Section 61 of the JJ Act in order to ensure speedy disposal of cases and enhance accountability The district magistrates have been further empowered under the Act to ensure its smooth implementation as well as garner synergised efforts in favour of children in distress conditions According to the amended provisions of the Act any Child Care Institution shall be registered after considering the recommendations of the district magistrate The DM shall independently evaluate the functioning of District Child Protection Units Child Welfare Committees Juvenile Justice Boards Specialised Juvenile Police Units Child Care Institutions etc According to the draft amendments when any offence under the Act is committed by a Child Care Institution including a Specialised Adoption Agency the Committee or the Board may pass appropriate orders for placing the children in any other institution or agency and recommend the cancellation of the registration and withdrawal of recognition of such institution or agency to the DM The DM including ADM may ensure transfer of children and closure of guilty institution within 7 days under intimation to State Government it said In earlier rules the provision of 7 days time frame was not there The draft amendments also propose that Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System an online system for facilitating and monitoring the adoption programme may be deleted to give flexibility to the Centre to create a new portal in near future The amendments also propose that the DM shall maintain oversight on actions taken with respect to child marriage cases and facilitate action for education and awareness regarding impact of child marriage on children The person-in-charge of a child care institution has been termed as home manager under the draft amendments The amendments also call for necessary orientationtraining of staff to make it aware of what constitutes abuse neglect and maltreatment and their early indication and how to respond to these abuses The amendments also propose that the DM shall maintain an oversight and may direct police to make special arrangements to prevent children from getting associatedaffected by drug peddlers A new clause has been included that when a child refuses to go back to the family or the family refuses to take back the child due to reasons of financial constraints the district magistrate shall explore all possibilities of providing all central and state sponsored schemes as per their eligibility to strengthen the family financially for restoration of the child to the family in the best of the child The district magistrate can also submit a proposal to states for seeking funds from the state fund for implementing projects for children in the district regarding any of the activities mentioned under this rule which may be allocated if the proposal is found suitable and outcome oriented The draft amendments also said that in extraordinary situations when the movement of the child or the committee is restricted due to unforeseen circumstances the child may be presented before the committee through virtual mode under intimation to the DM Under the amendment draft the Child Welfare Board shall submit a six monthly situational analysis report to the DM regarding the types of crime committed by children in the district plausible reasons for such actions along with their suggestions and recommendations Two new rules have been inserted according to which the DM and the ADM may make recommendations for action against the Board or any of its members to the district judge in case of any complaint against the Board or Board member received and verified by the DM The District Judge shall consider the complaint and take action upon it within one month The DM shall be intimated in this regard it said Another rule has been inserted according to which the District Child Protection Unit shall intimate DM regarding the pendency and status of such cases on a regular basis It has to be ensured that no person shall be eligible for selection as a member of the committee if it has any past record of violation of human rights or child rights has been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude and has been removed or dismissed from service of the Centre or state or an undertaking or corporation owned or controlled by the Government of India or State Government the draft amendments said Earlier these criteria were not there The WCD Ministry has invited suggestions and all the stakeholders are requested to offer their comments on the rules by November 11 PTI UZM SMN SMN

New Delhi Aug 23 PTI The government on Monday introduced a new clause in the adoption regulations according to which when parents with their adopted child move abroad within two years of adoption have to intimate Indian diplomatic missions of their departure and arrival at least two weeks in advanceThis information has to be given through a written communication by parents who have to also give full contact details according to a gazette notification of the Women and Child Development MinistryThe notification said it shall be the responsibility of the Indian Mission of the country to which the child has moved to perform all the assigned duties under the Adoption Regulations 2017 in respect to the adopted childUnder the Adoption First Amendment Regulations 2021 it said that the amendment has been notified in accordance with the relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2015 2 of 2016Earlier there was no such provision of such intimation under the regulationsIn the Adoption Regulations 2017 in regulation 40 after sub-regulation 7 the following sub-regulation for intimation shall be inserted the notification said The new sub-regulation 7A states that where the adoptive parents move with the child to some other country within two years of adoption the concerned Indian Diplomatic Missions in the country of departure and arrival shall be intimated at least two weeks in advance through a written communication by the adoptive parents with their full contact details at the new place and thereafter it shall be the responsibility of the Indian Mission of the country to which the child has moved to perform all the assigned duties under the Adoption Regulations 2017 in respect of the adopted child PTI UZM ANB ANB