CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

Subject : Governance

Context : The government has laid out a procedure for children who have lost both parents to COVID-19 to appear before the District Child Welfare Committee for rehabilitation.

Concept :

• It is a quasi-judicial agency and is the final authority on children in need of care and protection. It is an autonomous body.
• The Child Welfare Committee functions as a bench guided by the powers that are conferred in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
• Anyone connected to the child is allowed to file a petition to the Magistrate of that District, who considers and passes appropriate orders.
• It is mandatory to form one or more Child Welfare Committees in every district for exercising power and to discharge the duties conferred in relation to children in need of care and protection.
• This committee consists of a Chairperson and other four members who according to the State Government are fit to be appointed, at least one of whom should be a woman and the other should preferably be an expert on matters that are concerning the children.

Power and function as mentioned in Section 27 of the Juvenile Justice, Act 2015:

• The Committee has the full authority of disposing of cases for the care, protection and treatment of the children.
• The Committee can also dispose of cases that are for the development, rehabilitation and protection of children that are in need, and also to provide for the basic need and protection that is needed by the children.
• When a Committee is constituted for any particular area, then it has the power to exclusively deal with all proceedings that are being held under the provisions of this Act that are related to children in terms of need of care and protection.
• While exercising the given powers curtailed under this Act, the Committee is barred from performing any act which would go against anything contained in any other law that is in force at that time.
• CWCs are designated by law as final district-level authorities for care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of “children in need of care and protection” – or CNCP
• POCSO Act mandates the police to inform CWC
• In case of sexual abuse, the Juvenile Justice Act defines CNCP as any child “who has been or is being or is likely to be abused, tortured or exploited for the purpose of sexual abuse or illegal acts”.
• Rules under POCSO Act make it mandatory that if the police have reasons to believe that the child is without a home or paternal support, or is in any institution or when a perpetrator is in the same house, among others, the victim has to be produced before CWC.