The Union women and child development ministry plans to move a bill during the Parliament session that begins from Monday to amend the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, according to officials aware of the developments.
As per the proposed amendment, a district magistrate’s role will be widened to oversee and monitor implementation of adoption process. The proposed change will effectively make magistrates appellate and monitoring authorities of district-wise adoptions.
Officials said that the changes have been proposed keeping in mind cases of rape and sexual abuse in shelter homes in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria and Bihar’s Muzaffarpur last year.
“The changes will allow district magistrates to go beyond simply officiating adoptions by issuing orders and to monitoring them at the district level. The role was not defined in the previous amendment to the law,” said an official.
Another official said the changes are minor. They were approved during an inter-ministerial discussion held earlier this month with the law ministry officials.
The ministry will reintroduce the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to award death penalty in cases of aggravated penetrative sexual assault of children, irrespective of gender.
It will also reintroduce the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection, and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018. The proposed legislation was passed in the Lok Sabha on July 26 last year. Rajya Sabha could not clear it.
The bill seeks to widen the definition of trafficking to include aggravated forms of trafficking, forced labour, organ trafficking etc.
First Published:
Jun 17, 2019 07:27 IST
Source: HindustanTimes