Promises to Protect Children

The Commissions for the Protection of the Child rights act 2005 provides for the constitution of a national commission and state commissions as well as children’s courts across the country for providing speedy trial of offences against children or for violation of child rights. the act followed india becoming a signatory in 1992 to the UN’s Convention for the rights of the Child. earlier this year, soon after the shocking crimes perpetrated on children at Nithari came to light, the statutory central agency was set up, but state commissions and children’s courts are yet to be established.

Notions relating to children’s rights have for long been a grey area in india. Juridical accountability and spheres of enforcement have been compounded by the plethora of agencies that exist. the question of children’s rights is also notionally bound to several other concepts, some that have taken on legal recognition – aspects such as definitions of “bonded” and “neglected” – and others that perhaps touch on the private sphere as well, for instance, children as victims of “domestic violence”.