India: Children’s rights in litigation: Use of the CRC in indian courts

Abstract

India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1992 thereby expressing its commitment to protect the human rights of all its citizens, including children. As a result, in the past 20 years the CRC has come to exert a growing influence on a range of legislative, judicial and executive decisions. This chapter attempts to highlight how the ratification of the CRC is reflected in the drafting of legislation in the country and examples of some of the cases in which the courts at different levels in India–High Courts in the States and Supreme Court–have alluded to or cited the CRC in its pronouncements.