Activists Urge Karnataka Government to Frame SOP for Children of Prisoners

Child rights activists in Bengaluru have urged the Karnataka government to formulate a standard operating procedure to identify and support children of prisoners living outside jails through a confidential, child-sensitive mechanism. The demand follows revelations that state child protection authorities and prison departments currently lack an official protocol for children whose parents are incarcerated.

Activists pointed out that children whose parents are imprisoned currently have no formal protection mechanism in the State. Dr Antony Sebastian, former chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR), stated that he was unaware of any standard operating procedure (SOP) specifically catering to prisoners’ children living outside jail premises. The Deputy Director of the Directorate of Child Rights Protection has likewise acknowledged being unaware of any existing framework to monitor or assist this vulnerable group.

Dr Thippeswamy KT, a former member of the KSCPCR who has repeatedly petitioned authorities on the issue, wrote a letter on Wednesday to the Chairperson of the National Juvenile Justice Commission appealing for directions to establish a nationwide framework. In his representation, Thippeswamy highlighted that parental incarceration directly affects a child's care, education, healthcare, nutrition, safety, emotional well-being, and family relationships.

According to Thippeswamy, the proposed SOP must mandate timely referrals to child protection services whenever minors face abandonment, neglect, abuse, exploitation, or homelessness, while ensuring continuity in schooling, healthcare, nutrition, and social security benefits. He urged authorities to prioritise safe family-based and kinship care, alongside psychosocial support and counselling. He also stressed the necessity of robust privacy and non-discrimination safeguards to ensure children are not identified or stigmatised due to their parents’ criminal cases or imprisonment.

The appeal further called for facilitating child-sensitive mechanisms to maintain contact with incarcerated parents when it is in the child's best interests. It also sought free legal services for affected children and their caregivers, along with systematic national-level data collection and research to understand the issue.

Child rights activist Nagasimha G Rao warned that children should not become invisible victims of parental imprisonment. Rao noted that when a mother or father is sent to prison, the child has committed no crime and must not be made to suffer consequences such as loss of care, financial insecurity, school dropout, child labour, child marriage, emotional distress, and social stigma.

To address these gaps, Rao proposed that Karnataka develop an integrated SOP connecting local police, the Prisons Department, District Child Protection Units (DCPU), Child Welfare Committees (CWC), and District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA). His proposal recommends classifying children of prisoners under a special "Children in Need of Care and Protection" category, conducting mandatory child-risk assessments within 24 hours of a parent's imprisonment, and maintaining a dedicated child registry within prisons. Vasudeva Sharma of the Child Rights Trust also urged the state government to direct concerned authorities to formulate guidelines for children living outside prisons.