Govt soft on child employers

Of 5,392 Violations Between 2007 & ’09, Only 6 Sent For Prosecution

New Delhi: The Centre, which touted the enactment of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act to ban the employment of children in hard or hazardous jobs as a major piece of social legislation, has been completely indifferent towards the enforcement of the law.
    A close look at the statistics submitted to the Supreme Court make the conclusion irresistible. They show that while between 2007 and 2009, central labour inspectors detected 5,392 instances of violations of the 1986 law, prosecution was launched only in six cases. The period saw only three convictions.
    The lapse was not an exception. Similar indifference is evident in 2006-07, during which 2,363 child labour employment instances were found, but violators were booked only in one case which resulted in conviction.

    Detailing a chart containing these figures for state governments between 1997-98 and 2004-05, which was collated by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan’s counsel Colin Gonsalves said the dismal enforcement of the 1986 Act has put a serious question mark on the future of children engaged in labour, whose figure the government conservatively estimates at 13 million. In this period across the states and UTs, a total of 1.4 lakh violations were detected, Andhra Pradesh alone accounting for nearly half with 70,922 cases. However, when it came to taking the violators of the Act to task, all state governments appear to be towing the central line.

    Cases were lodged only in 58,962 violations but conviction was recorded only in 21,436 cases. “The prosecutions are launched in less than 50% of cases where violations are detected. About 30% of the prosecutions culminate in convictions,” the NGO said.

    It alleged that “in most cases the employers manage to get away with paltry fines”. Equally important is the absence of data on whether Rs 20,000 was ever collected from each person found employing a child below 14 years of age and whether Rs 5,000 was provided to the rescued child. The apex court had in 1983 directed that the fine amount collected be put in Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund.