NCPCR Public Hearings

About NCPCR

Public Hearings are gatherings where specific grievances are aired before a ‘jury’. The concerned government officials are also present to present their status report with respect to the particular grievance. After hearing the grievance and the official action-taken report, the jury gives directions on the case.

The preparation for a public hearing can be divided into three phases.

PHASE I: Pre-NCPCR Intervention

1. Identify cases of violation of child rights and compile all relevant details of the violation such as:

a. Name of victim, age, sex
b. Name of parent and residential address.
c. Type of violation of child rights.
d. Place of violation, full address.
e. Accused persons/ institutions: name, age, sex, residential address and/or affiliated institution and institution address.

2. Send petitions to the concerned departments in government for redressal and action.

3. Registration of FIR in police station in case of contingencies.

4. The NGO shall ensure follow-up action.

5. In case of non-action, the NGO(s) shall consolidate all such petitions and write a letter to the NCPCR about holding a public hearing.

6. Send case-wise documents along with the above petition to the NCPCR. (See example in Annexure 1)

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Constitution of India

Article 23 (1):

Traffic in human beings, begging and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.

PHASE II: Preparation and Conduction of the Public Hearing

7. The NCPCR shall constitute a ‘Jury’ comprising experts on the issue and other eminent people to hear the cases during the public hearing.

8. A date for the public hearing shall be decided.

9. The NCPCR shall send ‘summons’ to the concerned officials of the relevant departments to be present at the hearing. See example of summon in Annexure 2.

10. The NGO shall inform the victim and his/her parents/guardians about the public hearing date and venue details. They shall come with all records pertaining to the case.

DURING THE PUBLIC HEARING: Cases will be taken up one at a time.

11. Case testimonies shall be presented by the victim, his parents, or representative.

12. The concerned officials will be called to give their statement and/or action-taken report.

13. The Jury has a right to give interim orders/directions in the course of the Public Hearing, where it deems fit.

14. The entire proceedings shall be video-documented, so that verification can be done through the video-recordings. If necessary the statements shall be transcribed.

PHASE III: Post-Public Hearing

15. The NCPCR shall pass ‘final directions’ on each case within a fortnight of the public hearing, and send letters to the relevant officers/departments. For an example of a ‘directions letter’, please see Annexure 3.

16. The officers/departments shall be given one-month’s time to implement the ‘directions’ and present an action-taken report to the NCPCR.

17. If the NCPCR does not receive any response from the officers/departments at the end of one month, it shall send reminders directing them to take immediate action and send report.

18. If no action is taken then a special jury/commission of enquiry is constituted to examine the Action Taken by the Governments and recommend remedial action to the Commission.

19. In furtherance of the above the NCPCR recommends immediate action either to the executive or the judiciary depending upon the evidence, examination and recommendation of the Commission/jury thus constituted.

S. No.	Venue	Date	Remarks	Results
1.	Dungarpur, Rajasthan	August 2007	Child Labour in BT Cotton Seed Fields	The matter has been taken-up with the District Administration, Dungarpur & the State Government, who in turn have formulated multi-pronged action plans and are implementing the same for addressing the problem at source points in the receiving districts
2.	Ahmedabad, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Gujarat	15 to 20 September 2007	Child Labour in BT Cotton Seed Fields	The matter has been taken-up with the District Administration, Dungarpur & the State Government, who in turn have formulated multi-pronged action plans and are implementing the same for addressing the problem at source points in the receiving districts
3.	Jharkhand	October 2007	Child Rights, Child Protection, Child Trafficking for Child Labour in Delhi	The matter has been taken-up with the Jharkhand Government
4.	Devas, MP	14 to 16 November, 2007	Education	Issues and Grievances emerging from the Public Hearing have been taken up with the State Government
5.	Charla, Khamam District (AP) and Kirandul Camp, Dantewada District, (Chattisgarh)	16 to 20 December, 2007	Educational deprivation and lack of access to health facilities aggravated by Civil Unrest	Grievances have been taken up separately with both the State Governments, Chattisgarh & AP. A Joint Meeting between both the Governments has been organised by the Commission in its office on 3rd April 2008 for dialogue, understanding & coordination.
6.	Jhajha, Jamui District, Bihar	12 June, 2008	Impact of Social Mobilization for bringing out-of-school-children to schools	Government of Bihar was recommended to replicate this good practice in other Districts
7.	Narsingpura, North Tripura District.	8 September, 2008	Health, Nutrition, Education, Water & Sanitation Relief, Rations, Food Security, Child and Maternal death	The matter is being pursued with the State Government for remedial measures
8.	Vevsri Camp in Cgirang District. And Chalabila Camp in New Bongaigaon District, Assam	5 and 6 September, 2008	Health, Nutrition, Education, Water & Sanitation Relief, Rations, Food Security, Child and Maternal death	The matter is being pursued with the State Government for remedial measures

(Public Hearings)

S. No.	Venue	Date	Remarks	Results
1.	Chennai	22 and 23, January, 2008	Corporal Punishment, torture and sexual abuse of children in Schools	The grievances have been taken up with the State Govt. and concerned District Collectors for remedial measures
2.			Impact of Social Mobilization for bringing out-of-school Children to Schools

CHN

S. No.	Venue	Date	Remarks	Results
1.	Charla, Khamam District, (AP) Kirandul Camp, Dantewada District, (Chahtisgarh)	16 to 20 December, 2007	Educational deprivation and lack of access to health facilities aggravated by Civil Unrest	Grievances have been taken up separately with both State Governments at Chattisgarh and AP. A Joint Meeting between both the Governments has been organised by the Commission in its office on 3rd April, 2008 for Dialogue, Understanding and Coordination
2.	Godiguda Village , Adilabad District, AP	26 June to 2 July, 2008	Malnutrition, Anaemia and poor health due to Viral/ Malaria	The matter is being pursued with the State Govt. for remedial measures.
3.	Narsingpura, North Tripura District.	8 September, 2008	Health, Nutrition, Education Water and Sanitation Relief/ Ration/ Food Security, Child and Maternal death	The matter is being pursued with the State Government for remedial measures.
4.	Vevsri Camp in Cgirang District and Chalabila Camp in New Bongaigaon District, Assam	5 and 6 September, 2008	Health, Nutrition, Education Water and Sanitation Relief/ Ration/ Food Security, Child and Maternal death	The matter is being pursued with the State Government for remedial measures.