<p>Verification of age of abandoned and missing children is a major hurdle in ensuring protection of rights of children, say police officers.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Participating in a discussion over child rights here on Thursday, police officers said the process of age verification was chaotic, as it was not easy to determine the age of abandoned children in the absence of authentic age proof documents.<br /><br />“When we take children for age-verification tests we have to sit at the hospital for hours because the doctors are not available. Sometimes they refuse to conduct the tests,” said Manoj Kumar, an inspector at the programme organised by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Salaam Baalak Trust, a child rights group.<br /><br />Responding to the issue, a Child Welfare Committee representative said that in East Delhi they have collaborated with some hospitals who have assigned fixed days to complete all medical tests. “We will propose a similar procedure in other district hospitals,” said Shashank Shekhar advocate and member DCPCR. The participants, who included 20 inspectors and members of the Special Juvenile Police Unit, a cadre of child-friendly police at all stations,shared their experiences and difficulties with respect to juvenile cases and children conflicting with law. <br /><br />A major problem faced by the inspectors is that it was difficult to counsel the families of victims. According to a Delhi High Court order, police are expected to bring child victims and their families to the Delhi Legal Services Authority for several counselling sessions. “It is a tough task to convince parents to come for these sessions as they do not cooperate,” said Jaipal Singh, a sub inspector. <br /><br />Other issues include lack of awareness among people from backward areas about how and where to report in case of kidnap or missing cases, difficulty in recording the number of homeless children on streets, and negligible reports of petty crimes like thefts on the streets. <br /><br />The DCPCR is working on a detailed report which will identify solutions to these issues and they wil present it to all district commissioners and the Juvenile Justice Board for better compliance. <br /></p>
<p>Verification of age of abandoned and missing children is a major hurdle in ensuring protection of rights of children, say police officers.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Participating in a discussion over child rights here on Thursday, police officers said the process of age verification was chaotic, as it was not easy to determine the age of abandoned children in the absence of authentic age proof documents.<br /><br />“When we take children for age-verification tests we have to sit at the hospital for hours because the doctors are not available. Sometimes they refuse to conduct the tests,” said Manoj Kumar, an inspector at the programme organised by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Salaam Baalak Trust, a child rights group.<br /><br />Responding to the issue, a Child Welfare Committee representative said that in East Delhi they have collaborated with some hospitals who have assigned fixed days to complete all medical tests. “We will propose a similar procedure in other district hospitals,” said Shashank Shekhar advocate and member DCPCR. The participants, who included 20 inspectors and members of the Special Juvenile Police Unit, a cadre of child-friendly police at all stations,shared their experiences and difficulties with respect to juvenile cases and children conflicting with law. <br /><br />A major problem faced by the inspectors is that it was difficult to counsel the families of victims. According to a Delhi High Court order, police are expected to bring child victims and their families to the Delhi Legal Services Authority for several counselling sessions. “It is a tough task to convince parents to come for these sessions as they do not cooperate,” said Jaipal Singh, a sub inspector. <br /><br />Other issues include lack of awareness among people from backward areas about how and where to report in case of kidnap or missing cases, difficulty in recording the number of homeless children on streets, and negligible reports of petty crimes like thefts on the streets. <br /><br />The DCPCR is working on a detailed report which will identify solutions to these issues and they wil present it to all district commissioners and the Juvenile Justice Board for better compliance. <br /></p>
