Socio-legal Issues of the Street Children in India and their Protection

Abstract

Innumerable children in India are deprived of their basic human rights. They are forced to work in an age when they should learn as how to read and write. These children became “street children” due to loss of their family or due to some other reasons. Despite the fact that the Constitution of India provides rights to everyone, the bitter truth is that there is a large section of children are deprived of basic human rights. These children are so helpless that they cannot even raise their voice for their basic human rights or are even not aware of their basic human rights. There are many international conventions and declarations on child rights which reflect the commitment of the international community to provide basic human rights to each and every child. At national level also there are various number of legislations which seeks to mitigate the condition of the children and to protect them from exploitation. But the ground reality is something else. The street children are fighting for their bare survival and the issue of development is far away from them. This article seeks to explore the causes of street(ism), the problems of the street children and attempts to critically analyze that how far the legal framework at national and international level is capable of protecting the street children. The article also reflects the data on the plight of rights of the street children, role of Judiciary, NGO and role of police in their protection. Further it seeks to find out the possible measures to curb the problems of street children and thus guarantee them their human rights and necessities in life and an atmosphere in which they can develop their overall personality.