Children's Rights according to the Indian Constitution

India recognizes and acknowledges children as equals to their adult counterparts and deems them worthy of the nation's protection and shelter. Children too are given the basic/fundamental rights of citizenship along with the adults through the Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. These rights encompass the following:

• Right to equality (Article 14).
• Right against discrimination (Article 15).
• Right to personal liberty and due process of law (Article 21).
• Right to being protected from being trafficked and forced into bonded labour (Article 23).
• Right of weaker sections of the people to be protected from social injustice and all forms of exploitation (Article 46).

The Constitution of India also goes on to award certain rights to the children of India in accordance with the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005). These rights are:

• Right to free and compulsory elementary education for all children in the 6-14 year age group (Article 21 A).
• Right to be protected from any hazardous employment till the age of 14 years (Article 24).
• Right to be protected from being abused and forced by economic necessity to enter occupations unsuited to their age or strength (Article 39(e)).
• Right to equal opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and guaranteed protection of childhood and youth against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment (Article 39 (f)).

Every child deserves the shield of security of its nation but there are specific classes that are vulnerable to the exploitation and violence more than the others. These are the victims of gender discrimination, child marriage, child labour, etc. The Indian Constitution has a number of provisions in order to protect a child from possible and further exploitation or discrimination. These include:

• Article 24 Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc. No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.
• Article 39 Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State. The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing
  1. that the citizen, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood
  2. that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good
  3. that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment
  4. that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women
  5. that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength
  6. that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.
• Article 45 Provision for free and compulsory education for children. The State shall endeavor to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.