With crime against children on the rise, police officials were asked to be sensitive to complaints related to children and handle the case with care.
Under the Adolescent Empowerment Project of UNICEF, a capacity building programme on “Police as custodians of Child Protection” was held for Assistant Commissioners, DSPs and Inspectors from Salem City and Salem Rural on Saturday.
Andrew Sesuraj, State convenor, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory, an NGO, spoke on the existing laws that protect the rights of children and also the need for handling the children with care. The UN Convention on the rights of the child, principles of Juvenile Justice System, child rights and protective laws and the need for strengthening various child welfare organisations were discussed during the programme. It was stressed that police officials, who handled child victims, should serve as custodians of law and should ensure that the children felt safe. Procedures that need to be adopted in dealing with child marriage, child labour, and POSCO Act were discussed in detail.
V.S. Varun Velu, child protection consultant, Salem district, said that the project was implemented in Salem and Dharmapuri districts and 140 rural police and 40 child welfare police officers in the city were already trained. He said that a total of 90 officials would be trained during the sessions to be held on November 7 and 8.
The project is implemented in 12 blocks in the district from June 2016 to December 2017 for empowering children in the age group of 10 to 18 years. Games and discussions were also part of the sessions held on Saturday.
