Central body calls for plugging gaps in child protection, juvenile justice system in UT of J&K

NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Child Rights has called for measures to plug the gaps in the child protection and juvenile justice system in Jammu and Kashmir and enable implementation of the provisions of central laws that now apply to the Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 and the re-organisation of the state into UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
The NCPCR has also sought details of all child care institutions from the administration to enable an audit as has been done by the commission in other states now that J&K is not exempt from the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015.
Kanoongo shared that a series of recommendations have also been sent to the UT administration as a follow-up to the review meeting with the UT administration and visit of children homes conducted by NCPCR in March.
NCPCR has said that the state commission for protection of child rights should be set-up as per the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005. The recommendations emphasise on implementation of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009. For instance, implementation of these laws would require creating a robust system to regulate children homes and adoption as provided under the JJ Act. Also implementation of RTE will also require implementation of the quota for children from the economically weaker sections in private schools in J&K.
During the review meeting in March the department of school education in the UT had informed NCPCR that 16,000 children between 11 to 14 years were out of school. It was shared that the state rules for RTE Act, 2009 were under process for notification. The UT has 28,562 schools (23,111 government schools and 5,451 private schools) in which more than 22 lakh children are enrolled.