Chandigarh to set up Commission for Protection of Child Rights

The Union Territory of Chandigarh would soon have a Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

"The Chandigarh Administration has decided to set up Commission for Protection of Child Rights very soon," the UT Administrator's adviser K K Sharma said at a workshop on "Media Reporting on Women and Children" here today.

Experts from National Commission for Women, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, and journalists attended the workshop, according to an official release.

In the inaugural address, Sharma said recognising the need for protecting children's rights, the administration had decided to set up the commission. He said the safety of these vulnerable sections of society needed to be ensured within the confine of homes and outside.
 

"Since a child imbibes the value system around him or her, it is imperative that the environment is conducive for healthy growth of our children," he said.

Nirmala S Bhavalkar, a member of the National Commission for Women, said the media, being the fourth pillar of our democracy, needed to make a good use of legal provisions and case studies in their reportage about sensitive issues related to children and women.

"In doing so, facts should not be missed, but must not be exaggerated. In reporting crimes against these vulnerable sections, heinousness of crime should be highlighted rather than the explicit details of the incident," she said.

She exhorted mediapersons to play a pro-active role in highlighting the cause of women and children, "more so when the recommendations of the Commission and other such bodies are ignored by the government".

Manoj Gupta of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, appealed to the media to be thoroughly aware of the children's rights so that the pubic was appropriately informed, and their reporting remained sound from legal perspective related to child rights.