Exploitation of Minor Children

As per Section 24 (1) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 [JJ Act], whoever, employs or uses any juvenile or the child for the purpose or causes any juvenile to beg shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. Further, Section 24 (2) of the JJ Act provides whoever, having the actual charge of, or control over, a juvenile or the child abets the commission of the offence punishable under sub-section (1), shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine. Moreover, Section 25 of the JJ Act provides whoever gives, or causes to be given, to any juvenile or the child any intoxicating liquor in a public place or any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance accept upon the order of duly qualified medical practitioner or in case of sickness shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. The responsibility of implementation of the JJ Act lies with the State Government/UT Administrations.

In order to support States/UTs for implementation of the provisions of the JJ Act and for rehabilitation and reintegration of children in difficult circumstance including child beggars, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is implementing a centrally sponsored Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). Under ICPS, financial assistance is provided to the States /UTs for, inter-alia, undertaking a situational analysis of children in difficult circumstances at district level, based on which the State prepare their Action Plans for Child Protection. Financial assistance under ICPS is also provided to States/UTs for setting up and maintenance of various types of Homes, including Children Homes and Open Shelters being set up within the community in urban and semi urban areas for such children. These Homes/Shelters provide facilities and services such as food, shelter, age appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care and counselling with a focus on their long term rehabilitation. The Scheme also provides for family based non-institutional care through adoption, sponsorship and foster-care.

Under the scheme, 1253 Homes including Children Homes and 193 Open shelters are supported covering 66,153 and 7,530 children respectively as on 31^st January, 2014. The State/UT-wise, details of number of Homes and Open Shelters, including Delhi, supported under ICPS is as mentioned below.

Sl. No.	Name of the State/UT	No. of Homes	Beneficiaries covered	No. of Open Shelters	Beneficiaries covered
1	Andhra Pradesh	105	6687	10	250
2	Arunachal Pradesh	1	50	-	-
3	Assam	7	221	3	75
4	Bihar	14	815	11	275
5	Chhattisgarh	29	1243	6	150
6	Goa	-	-	-	-
7	Gujarat	54	2001	-	-
8	Haryana	22	1276	21	525
9	Himachal Pradesh	22	1673	2	50
10	Jammu & Kashmir	-	-	-	-
11	Jharkhand	15	527	1	25
12	Karnataka	76	2197	23	575
13	Kerala	28	1035	3	55
14	Madhya Pradesh	44	1565	4	100
15	Maharashtra	86	4432	2	50
16	Manipur	12	507	2	50
17	Meghalaya	18	732	1	34
18	Mizoram	25	153	-	-
19	Nagaland	19	704	2	50
20	Orissa	134	9611	9	225
21	Punjab	15	396	-	-
22	Rajasthan	80	2339	20	500
23	Sikkim	5	228	-	-
24	Tamil Nadu	243	18452	14	531
25	Tripura	13	436	3	75
26	Uttar Pradesh	64	2079	18	450
27	Uttarakhand	15	250	-	-
28	West Bengal	53	3060	22	3085
29	Andaman & Nicobar Island	-	-	-	-
30	Chandigarh	2	223	-	-
31	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	-	-	-	-
32	Daman & Diu	-	-	-	-
33	Delhi	25	1995	14	350
34	Lakshadweep	-	-	-	-
35	Puducherry	27	1266	2	50
Total		1253	66153	193	7530

This was stated by Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.