Street Children

Things to Know

There are almost 11 million street children who have been lately working in different street crime.

Street Gangs

• More and more new children are being brought to the street business either by the operational gang street or by the adults who have already been on a particular street.
• Male children are generally trained to be a pickpocket whereas the girls are thrown into the business physical molestation.Because of their innocent age the children are more susceptible to be involved in drug touting and other serious crimes.
• The children are even thrown into the business of sexual molestation.
• The other problem which is face by the children is the rivalry between different street gangs who prohibit children from other gangs to visit their area.
• The children in the street gang involve children who have been migrated from different areas or the children who belong to nearby local streets.

Relevant Government Initiatives

A unified programme run by the government that has been continuously working for the welfare of street children was initiated in year 2007 in the month pf May that was operational till December 2008. The major objective of this program was to avert the children from spending their lives on street and thus providing them with shelter, nutrient food, monitoring of their health, leading them the hygiene life, providing them safe water for drinking, making them educate and thus preventing them from any king of molestation be it physical or mental.

Ministry of Women and Child Development has started up the “Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme” that is applicable for the working women that lets the facility of providing crèche for the children who are between 0 to 6 years. The other facilities provided along with this are emergency medicines, nutrient food supply etc.

What should I do when I see a street child?

• Be in link with the Juvenile officer or the officer working at Special Juvenile Police Unit.
• Make a call to 1098 that is operational 24*7 and make them available about the details of the child, the employer of the child and the place where the child is located or put up the details of the child on internet listed on the below mentioned site http://www.childlineindia.org.in/b1gReportaChild.aspx
• After the child is with the Juvenile officer he or she must be made available in front of the Committee of the Child welfare.

Relevant Legislations

Juvenile Justice Act