Team Herald
PANJIM: Directorate of Women & Child Development has warned of cancelling the registration of child care institutions (CCIs) that fail to produce an inmate before the respective child welfare committees (CWC) within 24 hours at the time of admitting him/her in the institution.
“As per Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, all children admitted in the CCIs are mandated to be produced before the respective CWCs (North and South) within 24 hours. All CCIs need to adhere to instructions failing which their registration will be cancelled without further notice,” the department said on Tuesday.
The department also asked CCIs to produce the children, currently lodged at their respective institutions without CWC orders, before the latter within six days for appropriate orders. “No CCI shall admit any child without following proper procedure. Any parents, guardians, any person having any complaint on the functioning of any CCIs may please approach the department without any delay,” the instructions state.
The move comes following a petition in the High Court of Bombay at Goa questioning the legality of children admitted in 78 CCIs.
Over a monthsago, the State had submitted to the court that around 2,615 children are lodged in 78 CCIs registered under the JJA. Of these, 512 were admitted without orders from the district CWCs while over 2000 children did not have CWC orders.
The CWC and District Child Protection Unit have begun an exercise to identify CCIs run by NGOs and are preparing a social investigation report of each child admitted in the institutions to ascertain whether the child is actually in need of care and protection or the parents are paying for their child’s stay.
