To empower children, DCPCR launches legal education programme

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), in collaboration with NGO Sambhavna, has launched an initiative to educate students, especially girls, about major laws, such as Child Marriage Act and Juvenile Justice Act, in order to create awareness.

Called 'Mera Kanoon Mera Dost', the initiative also aims to help children approach police more freely.

The first session was held at Government Girls Senior Secondary School No. 3, Badarpur, on Sunday.

"Children have always been neglected. We have often seen that not just children, even their parents don't know about legal rights or their protection. So, it is important to educate children about this, especially after the pandemic that left them confined to their houses. We want to educate them so that they can make use of law to protect them," DCPCR member Ranjana Prasad told TOI.

"Legal literacy empowers students to be critical thinkers with the skills to communicate their needs, research solutions and manage themselves in difficult situations. With this in mind, DCPCR is organising #MeraKanoonMeraDost sessions for students," DCPCR posted on social media platform X.

"During the session, we educated the girls about our Constitution and what rights it gives individuals. Further, we imparted knowledge of legal rights that can be entailed by children. It was interesting to see that there were a lot of questions among the children. Many wanted to know about the debate going on over the change of legal age of child marriage," said Shashank Shekhar from Sambhavna, who moderated the session.

He added, "We also noticed that there is a sense of fear among children about police. Parents, while scolding children, often use phrases like 'if you don't eat, we will take you to the cops'. This leaves a negative impact and leaves children afraid of approaching police. We are trying to break those perceptions through such sessions. This will result in children being able to approach cops in cases of harassment and other crimes."