Context: The child rights body has received complaint from an NGO which alleged that the All India Mission was involved in ‘illegally converting children in India’.
About NCPCR:
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR was established in March 2007 under an Act of Parliament (December 2005) under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.
The commission’s mandate is to ensure that all laws, policies, programs and administrative systems conform to the vision of the rights of the child as enunciated in the Constitution of India as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
A child is defined as a person falling in the age group of 0 to 18 years.
The Commission envisages a rights-based perspective, which flows into national policies and programmes, including defined responses at the state, district and block levels, considering the specifics and strengths of each region.
For the purpose of this, it is intended to make deep penetration into the communities and families of and it is expected that the collective experience gained in the field will be considered by all the authorities at the higher level.
Thus, the Commission envisages an indispensable role for the state to ensure children and their well-being, strong institution-building processes, respect for local bodies and decentralization at the community level and greater social concern in this direction.
The Commission, while inquiring into any matter under Section 13(1)(j) of CPCR Act, 2005 has
all the powers of a civil court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and, in
particular, in respect of the following matters, namely:-
summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
discovery and production of any document;
receiving evidence on affidavits;
requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office; and
issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents.
The Commission has also the power to forward any case to a Magistrate having jurisdiction to try the same and the Magistrate to whom any such case is forwarded shall proceed to hear the complaint against the accused as if the case has been forwarded to him under section 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).
