-Outlook Jaipur: As many as 52 child labourers within the age group of 7 to 12 years were rescued from the clutches of minority contractors who involved them in making bangles and handicraft items at a house here, police said today. The police arrested five persons, identified as Mohammad Fareed, Mubarik, Shakeel, Mohd Juned and Hasseed, all hailing from Bihar, and booked them under various sections of Child Protection Act and the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A year after the Supreme Court pulled up 19 states, including Bengal, that did not have a commission to protect children's rights and directed them to set up one, most of these panels exist only on paper. All states/Union territories are required to have a child rights commission under Section 17 of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. Twenty-three states now have the panels -...

-The Hindu The chopping off of the palms of two migrant workers is a wake-up call The gruesome incident of the chopping off of the palms of two migrant labourers of Kalahandi district of western Odisha by the labour contractor mafia in December 2013 should serve as a wake-up call. The incident highlights the ruthless extent to which the mafia can go to meet its ends and brings home the fact that...

-PTI NEW DELHI: NCW has recommended drafting of a special legislation against human trafficking which includes the UN definition of the crime, besides setting up of a central nodal authority to curb all such activities. Taking note of increasing cases of human trafficking in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the National Commission of Women (NCW) has sent a list of recommendations to the ministries of Home Affairs and Labour to prevent...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: Days after the December 16 gangrape incident, hundreds of rape cases were sent to special fast track courts for a speedy trial. In fact, in January this year, six newly created special fast track courts for sexual offences received over 500 cases within three weeks of their creation. A year later, the trial in the December 16 case is complete. The case is midway through appeal...