Noida: Several acts of crime against children have been reported in NCR in recent times, yet the district's child welfare committee (CWC) is still understaffed to deal with such situations appropriately. At a workshop held by the police on Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act and the POCSO Act in SSP Office in Surajpur on Tuesday, it was revealed that the Gautam Budh Nagar CWC cannot boast of counsellors to comfort the children in need or translators to help in communication.
The CWC, which is supposed to be a five-member body, consists of only two people at present, the chairperson Adesh Rani and a member Kamal Dutta and the other three members are yet to be appointed. The district also lacks a government-run shelter home and has to depend on shelter homes run by private NGOs. It does not have the facility of counsellors to comfort children in need of care and protection or translators for foreign and Indian languages and has to depend on private NGOs for the same.
According to district CWC chairperson Rani, the appointment of the other members has to be done by the department of women and child welfare, Lucknow. "Our role is to check the background of the child and provide protection. In many cases including those of sexual assault, the protection of the child is the foremost priority," Rani said.
Satya Prakash, manager, FXB- Suraksha- Childline and NGO, who has been working for children in need of care and protection for several years told TOI that the role of the functioning of the CWC is evolving at a slow pace pan-India. "The CWC members not only deal with specific cases but also need to visit the shelter homes to check the facilities being provided there. Lack of a fully-operational body affects the child-welfare work culture," he said.
The lack of counsellors and translators is seriously affecting police investigation too, cops say. A senior cop involved in the investigation of the sexual assault case on an expatriat student studying in a Greater Noida school said that the police are not equipped to handle cases involving expats. "Firstly, there is no translator. We record statements in broken English which does not help. Moreover, the counsellors provided by NGOs lack a genuine interest in the case," the officer said.
District child protection officer Vibha Tripathi agreed that there were no translators available for Indian and foreign languages at the moment.
The CWC, which is supposed to be a five-member body, consists of only two people at present, the chairperson Adesh Rani and a member Kamal Dutta and the other three members are yet to be appointed. The district also lacks a government-run shelter home and has to depend on shelter homes run by private NGOs. It does not have the facility of counsellors to comfort children in need of care and protection or translators for foreign and Indian languages and has to depend on private NGOs for the same.
According to district CWC chairperson Rani, the appointment of the other members has to be done by the department of women and child welfare, Lucknow. "Our role is to check the background of the child and provide protection. In many cases including those of sexual assault, the protection of the child is the foremost priority," Rani said.
Satya Prakash, manager, FXB- Suraksha- Childline and NGO, who has been working for children in need of care and protection for several years told TOI that the role of the functioning of the CWC is evolving at a slow pace pan-India. "The CWC members not only deal with specific cases but also need to visit the shelter homes to check the facilities being provided there. Lack of a fully-operational body affects the child-welfare work culture," he said.
The lack of counsellors and translators is seriously affecting police investigation too, cops say. A senior cop involved in the investigation of the sexual assault case on an expatriat student studying in a Greater Noida school said that the police are not equipped to handle cases involving expats. "Firstly, there is no translator. We record statements in broken English which does not help. Moreover, the counsellors provided by NGOs lack a genuine interest in the case," the officer said.
District child protection officer Vibha Tripathi agreed that there were no translators available for Indian and foreign languages at the moment.
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