JUVENILE JUSTISE
COVID-19 AND JUVENILE PROBATION
A QUALITATIVE EXAMINATION OF EMERGENT CHALLENGES
AND USEFUL STRATEGIES IN INDIA
Submitted By -
Chakshu Hooda
L19BALB059
Priyanshu Tyagi
L19BALB088
Submitted To -
Prof. Komal Dahiya
School of Law
Bennett University
TABLE OF CONTENT
[Link]. TOPICS PAGE NO.
1. Introduction 2
2. Shortage of Resources in Child Protection Schemes; weaking the system 3-4
3. Increase in child labour as a consequence of the pandemic 5-6
4. The pandemic has triggered child trafficking 6-8
5. An alarming surge in child marriages during the pandemic 9-11
6. Conclusion 12
7. Bibliography 13-14
1
INTRODUCTION
The topic of child vulnerability is complex and diverse. One can quantify the intersections
between many categories of potential vulnerabilities, such as those pertaining to gender,
ethnicity, poverty, disability status, displacement, and similar factors. Nevertheless, it is
evident that no single combination is a reliable predictor; rather, different combinations become
significant in various circumstances.
In addition to generating new vulnerable populations like orphans and refugees, emergencies
frequently magnify pre-existing disadvantages and discrimination 1. A vital element of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development is safeguarding every child from maltreatment,
exploitation, and destructive behaviours. India is dedicated to achieving the child protection
targets as a signatory to Agenda 2030.
More than 400 million children live in India. The Indian Constitution places the utmost
importance on ensuring the safety and welfare of children, acknowledging them as equals with
full rights. Therefore, numerous child-centric legislation, policies, and schemes have been
enacted and implemented from time to time by successive governments. Nonetheless, child
work, child marriage, and domestic abuse against children—particularly against teenage
girls—are all rather common. A serious issue in recent years has been the rise in juvenile crime
rates in India. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2020 shows that
there was a 13.2% drop in child-related crimes in India, with a rate of 29%. With the COVID-
19 epidemic, things have gotten worse, particularly in India.2
This policy brief makes the case that inadequate planning, budgeting, and under allocation are
major obstacles to public provisioning of child welfare and protection services. As a result, the
execution of numerous government projects and schemes has been continually subpar. The
policy lens for child protection services has two main flaws:
➢ It places more emphasis on reactive than on preventive measures; and,
➢ It does not adequately integrate several sectors, including nutrition, health, and
education, which are fundamental to children's rights. Furthermore, because they
frequently neglect to address the needs of girls who are frequently the targets of
1
UNICEF. (2009). Education in emergencies in South Asia: Reducing the risks facing vulnerable children.
[Link]
5-%20Full_Report.pdf
2
Child Rights and You. (2021a). NCRB 2020 – CRY Analysis and POV. [Link]
2
violence or children with disabilities, the policies and programmes are not necessarily
inclusive by design.
The subsequent segments examine diverse policy obstacles and propose solutions, considering
their financial consequences within the broader framework of the COVID-19 epidemic.
SHORTAGE OF RESOURCES IN CHILD PROTECTION SCHEMES;
WEAKING THE SYSTEM
India has an impact on legislation and programmes pertaining to children since it is a signatory
to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The juvenile justice system is primarily
governed by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act). It
provides basic care, protection, development, treatment, and social reintegration for vulnerable
children "in need of care and protection by catering to their basic needs through child-friendly
adjudication and disposal of matters in the best interest of children and for their rehabilitation
through processes provided, and institutions and bodies established.
In accordance with Article 39 (4 ) of the Indian Constitution, the state is required to make
certain guarantees, including the prevention of child abuse, the prevention of financial
necessity forcing children into careers that are inappropriate for their age or strength, the
provision of opportunities for healthy development in conditions of freedom and dignity, and
the protection of children from both material and moral abandonment.
Even though the law has made clear that child protection needs to receive more attention, there
aren't enough resources available. Child protection receives the lowest share of the budget for
children, according to a component-by-component analysis of Statement 12 of the Union
Budget. With the exception of 2019–20, child protection's percentage of the overall child
budget has stayed below 2% for the past five years. The decrease in allocations is concerning
because the pandemic has made child protection issues worse.
The Integrated Child Protection Schemes (ICPS) were implemented in 2009 by the Ministry of
Women and Child Development (MWCD) to improve the welfare of children in challenging
situations and lessen their susceptibility to events and behaviours that result in abuse, neglect,
exploitation, abandonment, and family separation. The scheme's funding has been insufficient
since its inception, despite its ambitious objectives. For the past ten years, the child protection
3
budget has fluctuated between a pitiful 0.03% and 0.07% of the overall Union budget, despite
the fact that children make up a substantial 40% of the Indian population.3
On the other hand, there have been more and more incidents of child protection violations. In
India, a child disappears every eight minutes (NCRB, 2021). Things have gotten worse because
of the pandemic. According to media reports, there was a significant surge in child labour, child
marriage, child trafficking, and various other forms of violence during the pandemic. The
number of calls to the Childline India helpline, 1098, increased by 50% in the first two weeks
of the lockdown, indicating a sharp increase in violence against children, including abuse that
occurs at home. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) reported
that approximately 92,475 children had lost a parent to the deadly virus. 4
One of the most crucial aspects of child protection is monitoring. States are required by the
guidelines of the Child Protection Scheme to establish a Child Protection Committee (CPC) at
the district, block, and village levels. The committees oversee the operation of DCPUs, the
overall execution of the plan at different levels of government, and the collection of up-to-date
data regarding children's circumstances, the supply and demand for child protection services,
and the effectiveness of child protection systems. But not every village, block, or district has a
CPC in place. Also, many current committees don't meet on a regular basis. Typically, there
aren't enough fundamental incentives, enough money for meeting expenses, or oversight of
how these monitoring committees are run.
WAY FORWARD
➢ The Union and state governments have both suggested and carried out a number of
child-focused initiatives during the pandemic, but these are frequently dispersed
throughout departments and ministries. Increasing the allocation of resources is
necessary for all aspects of the child protection program, such as building CCIs, hiring
staff, enhancing monitoring systems, and enhancing employee capacity through
ongoing training.
3
Child Rights and You. (2021b). Why children? [Link]
4
PTI. (2020, April 08). Coronavirus lockdown | Govt.
helpline receives 92,000 calls on child abuse and
violence in 11 days. The Hindu. [Link]
receives-92000-calls-on-childabuse-and-violence-in-11-days/[Link]
4
➢ Many children who have no extended family to care for them and whose parents are
COVID-19 infected have found temporary shelter in CCIs as a result of the pandemic.
CCIs were also instructed to arrange appropriate care for children infected with
COVID-19 in isolation facilities. Given the circumstances, CCIs now play a crucial
role. This calls for an increase in the unit cost of CCI maintenance.
➢ NGOs should be involved in CPS programs more systematically because they are
essential to many of the interventions that fall under this program. For example, they
could be enlisted to help children between the ages of 14 and 18 prepare for a successful
aftercare life by teaching them life skills.
INCREASE IN CHILD LABOUR AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE
PANDEMIC
The UN General Assembly unanimously decided to designate 2021 as the International Year
for the Elimination of Child Labour in July 2019. The objective was unachievable in the first
place, but it became increasingly so after the pandemic. The pandemic is predicted to force an
additional nine million children into the labour force worldwide.5
An estimated 15.3 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 were working as children
prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to estimates based on Census 2011 data. Due to
job losses, income declines, mounting debt, and/or the death of earning family members, the
pandemic has caused economic instability in households, particularly in marginalized
communities. Children are especially vulnerable because of this, and to help support the family
financially, they are forced to work manual or unskilled labour. The closing of the schools,
which had kept kids out of school for more than a year, made this decision easier for the
households.
Children who work in agriculture and are farmers are more vulnerable. Children were the
backup plan to help parents in the fields when there were no helping hands available because
the 2020 lockdown fell during the harvesting and marketing season.6
Children who work now, particularly teenagers, are more vulnerable to the crisis. Many
informal sector factories are using children as their lowest-cost labor force in order to make up
5
International Labour Organisation. (2015, March 31). Child labour and education: Progress, challenges and
future directions. [Link] EC_PUB_26435/lang-en/[Link]
6
Kundu, P. (2020, April 21). COVID-19 crisis will push millions of vulnerable children into child labour. The
Wire. [Link]
5
for the losses from the lockdown. They are frequently designed to work up to 12 hours every
day. Additionally, children under the age of 14 are allowed to "help" in families and family
businesses during the summer and after school hours thanks to an exception in the child labor
laws. In addition to endangering the lives of kids working in difficult conditions, this has
opened a loophole that permits kids to work in agriculture and related industries. It is possible
that they will leave school and enter the workforce before completing their elementary
education because there is currently a lack of a robust monitoring and support system to
guarantee that children under the age of 14 'help' only as permitted by law and do not jeopardize
their education. The possibility of children from marginalized communities being pushed out
has increased further because of extended school closures and difficulties accessing online
education.
WAY FORWARD
➢ It is necessary to increase the NCLP districts' coverage. District-level surveys to
identify child labour must be carried out on a regular basis. In order to execute these
procedures effectively, it will be necessary to establish dedicated training facilities and
hire more district nodal officers. In the upcoming years, the government must
significantly increase the NCLP budget.
➢ Governments should prioritize preventive measures over responsive ones in order to
completely eradicate the problem of child labour. The first step is to strengthen the
educational system in schools. The main focus of efforts should be on establishing a
setting that discourages school dropouts. Increasing the overall budget for schooling,
offering financial and non-financial incentives, and waiving tuition are important
initiatives that need closer government intervention.
➢ Releasing children alone won't be adequate. In order to address the issue, multiple
approaches are needed. It begins with the family that the kids are a part of. In order to
prevent parents from feeling pressured to send their children to work, efforts must be
made to bring together the various developmental programs that are currently in place.
These programs include social protection, health security, education support,
employment security (decent work and minimum wage), and food security
(universalizing PDS).
6
THE PANDEMIC HAS TRIGGERED CHILD TRAFFICKING
Child trafficking is the most dreadful illicit crimes against the children in India. The main
reason for trafficking internal as well as international involves commercial sexual exploitation,
bonded labour, marriage, adoption, and orphan trading. That the trafficking occurs on the
nuance of grounds of child marriage. The commonality between the traffickers and poor
parents selling their children for opting out of the poverty and getting into the better life by
leaving behind the sense of emotion, whereby the conviction rate remains very law around in
ten cases as per the NCRB data.7
The realm of covid-19 has passed two years ago but its footprint becomes the lashes for
escalation of cases of child trafficking during the lockdown around 1714 case has been reported
when the covid begins. Moreover, more than 40 % of all crimes against children in the past
decade were sexual offences.8children from the week socioeconomic and vulnerable
background have the disadvantage are mostly subjected to trafficking.
In the large reverse migration by the migrant workers due to the covid -19 lockdown was the
greater cause and lead to prebendated shortage of labours, thereby held the trafficking of
children and women increased. The major target are the children from the backward region of
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, west Bengal etc. where families are already in the fighting of
deprivation, unemployment, and hunger. Many victims are recused by the agencies, but the
attention is sufficed and jumps into the shelter home.9
Current policy and budgetary interventions
India is a country which do not have the separate legislation for the child trafficking. The
Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Act, 2021 is the law proposed to
offset the offence and includes women, children, and transgender persons as victim.,
nonetheless the ambiguities related to the liability and informing composition, deceit of efforts
and channelling of scare resource towards making of yet another organisation instead of
strengthening existing ones are then area that need further debates.
7
Lal, N. (2021, March). India's child-trafficking nightmare deepens in the pandemic. Global Asia, 16(1), 82-87
[Link]
8
Supra note 2.
9
Ghose, D. (2020a, October 12). Untold story of lockdown: sharp surge in child traffcking. The Indian Express.
[Link]
7
During the lockdown to address the greater risk of trafficking during the lockdown and the
large number of rescued survivors, states and Union Territories were recommended to build
and upgrade anti-human trafficking units (AHTUs). In March 2020, the Nirbhaya fund released
roughly Rs. 100 crores for this purpose. India has 330 AHTUs that serve as district-level
integrated task forces and convergence centres for the Ministries of Home Affairs, Women and
Child Development, and Labour and Employment.10
The covid -19 era also witness the rise in illegal adoptions commenced for the purpose of the
exploitation and trafficking. In July 2021, the women and children welfare department of
Telangana started the counselling session. Though, most other state failed to take the
preventative measure. Despite, there is as aforesaid advisory in march, many states like Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana , Maharashtra , Chhattisgarh and Nagaland failed to established a new ATHU
till October 2021, stating that the lack of funds from the central government. The Centre
claimed that Rs. 100 crores were released in March alone. Insufficient resources put vulnerable
children's lives at risk.11
Ujjawala is a plan under MWCD that prevents trafficking and provides rescue, rehabilitation,
and reintegration services for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. Since its
commencement in 2016-17, funds have been underutilised. In 2019-20, the budget allocation
was Rs. 20 crores, however the spending was just Rs. 6.33 crores. Expenditure has been falling
since 2017-2018. In 2021-22, no new budgetary allocations were made for child protection
schemes like Ujjawala and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, or gender budgeting, research,
publication, and monitoring under the Mission for Protection and Empowerment of Women.
Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services provided similar Child Protection Services
and Adolescent Girls Schemes. Existing policies face fiscal constraints, including under-
allocation and under-utilization12.
10
Bhardwaj, D. (2020, July 15). MHA asks states to set up more anti-trafficking units in wake of COVID-19.
Hindustan Times. [Link]
traf%EF%80%81cking-units-in-wake-of%20COVID-19/[Link]
11
Ghose, D. (2020b, October 13). In pandemic, Centre waved red ag on traf cking, but key states yet to take
action. The Indian Express. [Link]
traf%EF%80%81cking-amid-lockdown-%206722698
12
Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD). (2020). Revised Integrated Child Protection Scheme.
Government of India. [Link]
8
WAY FORWARD
➢ As with all aspects of child safety, preventing child trafficking necessitates a shift in
policy from reaction to prevention. To stop dropouts and child trafficking, government
institutions must provide free education and residential hostels for impoverished and
vulnerable children up to class 12. Additionally, identifying these children and
maintaining regular contact with their families is crucial.
➢ There were just 134 protective and rehabilitative houses as of July 2019 (PIB, 2019a).
This is insufficient considering that from the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020
to July 2021, up to 9,000 children were saved from traffickers ("Over 9,000 trafficked
kids rescued," 2021). Counselling, education and job training, and care and support are
all parts of rehabilitation and reintegration. It's also crucial to keep an eye on things in
shelter houses to make sure they don't turn into places where people are exploited and
abused. In order to compensate for the lack of qualified human resources and sufficient
infrastructure, budgetary measures are required.
➢ To be able to recognise the methods and routes of child trafficking and rescue children
who have been trafficked, law enforcement officers, immigration officers, and border
workers must complete child sensitization training. In a similar vein, schools need to
schedule teacher and student awareness seminars. It is necessary to inform them of the
problem and the hotlines to call in case of emergency and sufficient funding needs to
be set aside for the same.
AN ALARMING SURGE IN CHILD MARRIAGES DURING THE
PANDEMIC
Even though it is against the law, child marriage is nonetheless a major social issue in India.
Around half of India's 22.3 crore child brides, or 10.2 crore girls, were married off before the
age of fifteen, according to UNICEF figures from 2019. Additionally, these make up one-third
of all child brides worldwide.
Results of the National Family Health Survey 2019–20 (NFHS–5) in its initial phase show that,
in comparison to NFHS-4, 2015–16, there has been a decline in the percentage of women aged
20–24 who were married off before the age of 18 in 19 states and UTs, except for Assam,
Manipur, and Tripura (MoHFW, 2020). This percentage has climbed to 40.1% for Tripura in
2019–20, a 7-point percentage gain. This means that to combat child marriage, the north-
9
eastern states need to receive more funding and attention. Preventive measures should be
doubled in two other high-burden states, West Bengal (41.6%) and Bihar (40.8%).
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 is the main piece of law in India that
addresses child marriage. It assigns district magistrates, the police, and child marriage
prohibition officers most of the duties for both preventing and responding to child marriage.
Children who are at risk of marriage are recognised as vulnerable individuals in need of care
and protection under the JJ Act, 2015. Under the CPS programme, they are also entitled to
provisions and support systems.13
Programmes providing conditional cash transfers from birth to various stages of a girl's
education up to class 12 or the age of eighteen have been introduced by a number of state
governments.
These are designed to delay early marriages and dropout rates. The Bhagyalakshmi plan in
Karnataka, the Ladli Laxmi Yojana in Madhya Pradesh, the Kanyashree Prakalpa in West
Bengal, the Apni Beti Apna Dhan scheme in Haryana, the Ladli scheme in Delhi, and the
Mamta scheme in Goa are a few examples. Nevertheless, insufficient funding for the PCMA,
2006's requirements and the ensuing insufficient support systems for the ban of firearms result
in subpar execution.14
The 1964 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration
for Marriage is still not in effect in India. There aren't many programmes specifically designed
to prevent child marriage. According to data from Childline India Foundation's RTI answer,
child marriage increased by 33% between June and October 2020 compared to 2019 (Thomas,
2021). To stop the rising tendency, the federal government and the state governments must
allocate the necessary financial and personnel resources. A proactive strategy together with
focused financial initiatives for tracking, monitoring, rescue, and rehabilitation in addition to
prevention was inadequate during the epidemic because most cases go unreported.15
13
Chakraborty, S. (2021, October 28). Protecting children during pandemic requires much more than 'PM
CARES for Children' package. Down-to-earth [Link]
children-during-pandemic-requires-much-morethan-pm-cares-for-children-package-79929
14
Mahara, P. (2021). Can India be 'atmanirbhar' by cutting budget for children. Down-to-earth.
[Link]
15
Thomas, M. (2021, April 08). Rise in child marriages in the lockdown: How the Centre ignored data of its
own nodal agency. The Wire. [Link]
ignored-data-of-its-ownnodal-agency
10
WAY FORWARD
➢ Giving relevance to the existing state rules amended under the PCMA, 2006 pertains
that significant disagreement among these rules specifically when it comes to authority
of child marriage prohibition officer, liability composition from the panchayat to the
state level, instrument for collecting and ordering data in child marriage, role of the
police, merging with child protection composition, and rehabilitation of married
children. Hence, development of the central guidelines will be safeguard will be
ensured that there should be universal core least minimum provisions that are
comparable across all the states and will enhance the implementation of current legal
provision. Accordingly, investment on the human resources and institution- build up
for the observing and evaluation are the need of the current realm.
➢ The child marriage harms both the girl as well as a boy child, the former as excessively
affected. Early marriage and child conceiving is harmful to the health of adolescent
girls, beside the worsening the risk of the infant mortality and child malnutrition. It is
mandatory to register births and weddings in order to guarantee data accessibility and
documentation. the marriage registrar needs to have the authority to confirm the age of the
couple and record instances of child marriage. A larger budget is required not just for the
creation of disaggregated databases but also for the hiring and training of all staff involved.
➢ Increased public funding for girls' education is essential for preventing child marriages.
A study by CBGA-CRY estimated the total cost of universalizing the secondary
education of girls aged 15-19 years (including out-of-school girls) to range from 0.4%
to 0.6% of the GDP. School closures, learning losses, loss of midday meals and other
incentives, in addition to household financial crises owing to income and employment
losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to the surge in early marriages in
socially disadvantaged poor households.
➢ Given the connections between child marriage and problems like domestic violence,
gender-based violence and abuse, teenage sexual and reproductive health, infant and
child mortality, low education levels, and labour force participation, a multi-agency
approach spanning multiple departments is imperative. Thus, tackling the problem of
child marriage can hasten the fulfilment of a number of SDG pledges, including those
pertaining to economic growth, gender equality, education, poverty, and hunger, to
mention a few. It is therefore imperative to increase budgetary expenditures for the
purpose of properly implementing child protection procedures.
11
CONCLUSION
This paper provides the light on the several liabilities of children India which are exaggerated
due to the covid-19 pandemic. It is exposed that the gaps in the current child protection system
and try to suggest how these can be bridged to enhance their operation.
Depriving children of their right to a good life will make it more difficult for them to participate
in democracy in the future. There is therefore a compelling argument in favour of the
government providing care and assistance to all children in the nation. Both the state and federal
governments have started to act to assist children who are in need during the pandemic. It will
take child-sensitive budgetary and policy measures, convergence across linked sectors, and
cooperative efforts from the government, non-governmental organisations, and civil society to
reimagine children's futures in a post-pandemic world.
For children to develop, it is essential that they can grow up in a safe and secure setting and
that those who stray from the safety net receive assistance. The fulfilment of other rights to
participation, education, and development is correlated with the protection of children. To fulfil
India's obligations under the SDGs and lessen the impact of the pandemic on the lives of
vulnerable children, it is therefore imperative to reverse the downward trends in budgetary
allocations for child protection.
12
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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childtraffcking-nightmare-deepens-in-the-pandemic_neetala
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14