The Machinery: Fund, Police and Monitoring

Sub-section (3). The fund shall be administered by the Department of the State Government implementing this Act, in such manner and for such purposes as may be prescribed.

Section 106: the Society and the Units

Every State Government shall constitute a Child Protection Society for the State and a Child Protection Unit for every District, consisting of such officers and other employees as that Government appoints, to take up matters relating to children with a view to ensure the implementation of this Act, including:

• the establishment and maintenance of institutions under the Act;
• the notification of competent authorities in relation to children and their rehabilitation;
• co-ordination with various official and non-official agencies concerned; and
• such other functions as may be prescribed.

Compare the verbs with section 105. The fund is one the State Government may create; the Society and the Units it shall constitute.

Section 107: the police

Sub-section (1), in the police station. In every police station, at least one officer, not below the rank of assistant sub-inspector, with aptitude, appropriate training and orientation, may be designated as the Child Welfare Police Officer, to exclusively deal with children either as victims or perpetrators, in co-ordination with the police and voluntary and non-governmental organisations.

Sub-section (2), in the district. To co-ordinate all functions of the police relating to children, the State Government shall constitute Special Juvenile Police Units in each district and city, headed by a police officer not below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police or above, and consisting of:

• all police officers designated under sub-section (1); and
• two social workers having experience of working in the field of child welfare, of whom one shall be a woman.

Sub-section (3). All police officers of the Special Juvenile Police Units shall be provided special training, especially at induction as Child Welfare Police Officer, to enable them to perform their functions more effectively.

Sub-section (4). The Special Juvenile Police Unit also includes the Railway police dealing with children.

Note the two important words in sub-section (1). Exclusively, so the designated officer's work with children is not an addition to ordinary duties; and either as victims or perpetrators, so the same officer handles the child in conflict with law and the child in need of care and protection.

Section 108: public awareness

The Central Government and every State Government shall take necessary measures to ensure that:

(a) the provisions of the Act are given wide publicity through media, including television, radio and print media, at regular intervals, so as to make the general public, children and their parents or guardians aware of them; and (b) the officers of the Central Government, State Government and other concerned persons are imparted periodic training on the matters relating to the implementation of the Act.

Section 109: monitoring

Sub-section (1). The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights constituted under section 3, or the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights constituted under section 17, of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, shall, in addition to the functions assigned to them under that Act, also monitor the implementation of the provisions of this Act, in the prescribed manner.

Sub-section (2). While inquiring into any matter relating to any offence under this Act, the National or State Commission shall have the same powers as are vested in it under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.

Sub-section (3). The Commission shall also include its activities under this section in the annual report referred to in section 16 of that Act.

Section 110: rules

Sub-section (1). The State Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Proviso. The Central Government may frame model rules in respect of all or any of the matters on which the State Government is required to make rules; and where such model rules have been framed, they shall apply to the State mutatis mutandis until the State makes its own rules, and while making such rules the State shall conform to the model rules.

Sub-section (2). Without prejudice to that generality, the rules may provide for a long list of matters, which is a useful index to the Act itself. Among them: the manner of inquiry in the case of a missing or run away child under section 2(14)(vii); the responsibilities of the Child Welfare Officer under section 2(17); the qualifications of Board members and their induction training, term of office and resignation under section 4; the times of meetings and the rules of procedure under section 7; the qualifications, experience and fees of an interpreter or translator and any other function of the Board under section 8; the persons through whom a child may be produced and the manner of sending him to an observation home or place of safety under section 10; and the manner in which a person not released on bail by the officer in charge is to be kept, under section 12.

The proviso to section 110(1) is the practically important half. A State that has not made rules is not left without any, because the Central Government's model rules apply until it does, and its own rules must conform to them. That is why the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016 matter so much in practice.

A worked example

A boy is found alone on a railway platform late at night, and a constable takes charge of him.

Who deals with him at the police station? The Child Welfare Police Officer, an officer not below the rank of assistant sub-inspector designated in every police station to deal exclusively with children, whether victims or perpetrators, section 107(1).

The railway police say children are not their concern. They are: section 107(4) says the Special Juvenile Police Unit also includes the Railway police dealing with children.

Who co-ordinates? The Special Juvenile Police Unit of that district or city, headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, with all the designated officers and two social workers, one of them a woman, section 107(2); and its officers are specially trained, especially at induction, sub-section (3).

Who arranges his placement, funds it and follows him up? The District Child Protection Unit, constituted under section 106, which is the same body that supplies the Committee's Secretary under section 27(3), funds foster care under section 44(4), and follows up children under sections 19(2) and 30.

Where does the money for his rehabilitation come from? The State Government may create a juvenile justice fund, credited with voluntary donations, contributions and subscriptions, and administered by the implementing Department, section 105.

His parents did not know any of this existed. Section 108 requires the Central and State Governments to give the Act wide publicity through television, radio and print media at regular intervals, so that the public, children and parents know of it, and to give periodic training to officers.

A year later nothing has been done and no institution has been inspected. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, or the State Commission, monitors the implementation of the Act, with the same powers it has under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 when inquiring into an offence, and reports its activities in its annual report, section 109.

The State has not made rules. The Central Government's model rules apply mutatis mutandis until it does, and its rules when made must conform to them, proviso to section 110(1).

Distinctions

What this does NOT mean

The fund is not compulsory. Section 105 says the State Government may create it; the Society and Units under section 106 it shall constitute.

A Child Welfare Police Officer is not an addition to ordinary duties. He deals exclusively with children.

The Special Juvenile Police Unit is not only district police. It includes the railway police dealing with children.

Monitoring is not a new commission. It is given to the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights already constituted under the 2005 Act.

And a State without rules is not without rules. The Central Government's model rules apply until the State makes its own, which must conform to them.

Quick revision

• 105: the State Government may create a juvenile justice fund for the welfare and rehabilitation of children dealt with under the Act, credited with voluntary donations, contributions and subscriptions, administered by the implementing Department.
• 106: every State Government shall constitute a State Child Protection Society and a District Child Protection Unit in every district, to ensure implementation, including establishing and maintaining institutions, notifying competent authorities, and co-ordinating with official and non-official agencies.
• 107: a Child Welfare Police Officer in every police station, not below assistant sub-inspector, dealing exclusively with children as victims or perpetrators; a Special Juvenile Police Unit in each district and city, headed by an officer not below Deputy Superintendent of Police, with all designated officers and two social workers, one a woman; special training, especially at induction; and the unit includes the railway police.
• 108: wide publicity through television, radio and print media at regular intervals to the public, children and parents; and periodic training to officers.
• 109: the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights monitor implementation, with the same powers as under the 2005 Act when inquiring into an offence, reporting in the same annual report.
• 110: the State Government shall make rules by notification; the Central Government may frame model rules, which apply until the State makes its own and to which those rules must conform.

Test yourself

1. Who is the Child Welfare Police Officer? An officer in every police station, not below the rank of assistant sub-inspector, with aptitude, appropriate training and orientation, designated to deal exclusively with children, either as victims or perpetrators, in co-ordination with the police and voluntary and non-governmental organisations, section 107(1).

2. What is a Special Juvenile Police Unit, and who heads it? A unit constituted by the State Government in each district and city to co-ordinate all police functions relating to children, headed by a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, and consisting of all the designated Child Welfare Police Officers and two social workers experienced in child welfare, of whom one shall be a woman, section 107(2).

3. Does it include the railway police? Yes. Section 107(4) provides that the Special Juvenile Police Unit also includes the railway police dealing with children.

4. What bodies must every State Government constitute? A Child Protection Society for the State and a Child Protection Unit for every District, section 106.

5. Where does the juvenile justice fund get its money? From such voluntary donations, contributions or subscriptions as may be made by any individual or organisation, section 105(2).

6. Who monitors the implementation of the Act? The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights constituted under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, in addition to their functions under that Act, section 109.

7. What happens where a State has not made rules? The model rules framed by the Central Government apply to that State mutatis mutandis until it makes its own rules, and the State's rules must conform to the model rules, proviso to section 110(1).