Kolhapur: The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has written to the superintendent of police (SP) and commissioner of police of all districts and city commissionerates to set up Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPUs) — mandated as per Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.The commission members claim that, as per the Act, child welfare police officers have been assigned to every police station, but there’s a lack of SJPUs. As per section 107 of the Act, these units function as coordinating for the issues related to children. The units, set up at district and city levels, should be headed by a police officer not below the rank of a DySP, all police officers designated as welfare officers and two social workers with experience in child welfare — one of which should be a woman. The unit is also a must for the Railway police.The first meet of the freshly set up commission was held on April 15. Secretary of the commission Pankaj Devare wrote the letter to each SP and CP across the state.Atul Desai, member of the commission, said, “These units should help kids who are either children in conflict with the law or children in need of care and protection. The staffers in these units must be trained to handle kids as sensitively as possible. The unit must have names, designation, and phone number of the in-charge installed at a place that it is visible to the visitors. The commission has set a deadline of one month to report the compliance.“Last month, the state home dept had issued a Govt Resolution (GR) mandating structured and compulsory training for police personnel deployed as child welfare officers to ensure consistency in handling cases involving children.
