Child-Friendly Policing

Assam Police must be congratulated for launching a very important initiative that would make police stations friendly to children. While Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal unveiled the initiative in Guwahati on Thursday, the very nomenclature of the programs – Assam Police Shishu-Mitra – Assam Police as friends of children – is significant. While it was about two years ago that the National Commission for Protection of Chilf Rights (NCPCR) had come out with a set of guidelines for establishment of child-friendly police stations, it is a ‘better late than never’ initiative of the Assam Police, which however, must be appreciated in letter and spirit. Children, who, according to the Census Report of 2011, constitute a little over 41 per cent of India’s population; in Assam, it is slightly more. Children are the most important asset of any nation and need to be nurtured in a dignified manner, apart from being protected, and that they should have access to all their entitlements for their overall development. More importantly, they should be protected most in those environments where they are more vulnerable due to illiteracy, poverty and so on, and therefore also more exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation. NCPCR’s guidelines for establishment of child-friendly police stations on the other hand is an attempt to develop a pool of child-friendly police personnel and better compliance with various legal provisions and Acts relating to child rights and child protection. This, according to what NCPCR has envisaged, will also help in creating the child-friendly spaces where children will feel more at ease to express their problems openly to the officers concerned; such spaces and environments are particularly necessary as often children have nobody else, especially in cases of child sexual abuse by persons the child trust most. The NCPCR guidelines have been developed as part of a Rights-based approach to guarantee children their right to survival, development, protection and participation; among them, protection is more important in situations of crisis and difficulty. While police stations are expected to provide safe environment for children, with basic facilities like adequate drinking water and sanitation facility, food, cloths, recreational facilities etc, such police stations are also expected to help children in filing their complaints in a friendlier atmosphere. Additionally, such police stations are also expected to help those children who have allegedly committed offences and come into conflict with law. The NCPCR’s guidelines are also supposed to equip police personnel with appropriate knowledge to effectively exercise their duty, ensure better protection of child rights and prevent the abuse of minors. The makeover will ensure children who are victims or accompanying complainants are looked after properly in the police station. The children may be victims, informants or accompanying their parents to file a complaint for protection of their rights; therefore it is important that the police personnel listen to their complaints and look into them seriously. The NCPCR’s guidelines emanate from two landmark legislations – Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015; both these laws define a child as anyone below the age of 18 years. While the first Act provides specifically for child-friendly procedures, speedy trial of cases as well as rehabilitation of child victims, the other Act aims to cater to the “basic needs” of children alleged or found to be in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection “through proper care, protection, development, treatment, social reintegration, by adopting a child friendly approach... in the best interest of children.” What is significant to note is that while the NCPCR guidelines for making police stations child-friendly were formulated in 2017, Assam Police had originally launched a programme for child-friendly policing way back on November 14, 2001 itself. Assam Police, under Project Aashwas, had not only developed a syllabus for training police personnel on child rights and child-friendly attitude, but had actually become the first police force in the country to have conducted as many as 30 five-day training sessions for police officers, with over 1,500 officers undergoing such training. A series of student-police interactive sessions were also organized under that initiative – which was another first in the country. With the new initiative in place, it is now expected that the incidence of crime against children comes down in Assam in the next few years. One must remember, crimes against children in Assam is one of the highest in the entire country, and, alarmingly, more than half these crimes are sexual offences committed against children, followed by kidnapping and trafficking.