Parliament Question: Welfare of children living with women prisoners

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2231 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026 WELFARE OF CHILDREN LIVING WITH WOMEN PRISONERS 2231 DR. AJEET MADHAVRAO GOPCHADE: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether Government is aware that children residing with women prisoners in jails face serious challenges relating to nutrition, healthcare, emotional well-being and access to childhood education and if so, the steps taken by Ministry, in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and State Governments, to address these concerns; (b) whether any nationwide study or assessment has been conducted to evaluate the living conditions, welfare standards and developmental needs of such children; and (c) whether updated jail-wise data on number of children living with women prisoners is available and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI) (a) to (c): Prison is a State subject under Entry 4 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The administration and management of prison is primarily the responsibility of the State Governments. The Ministry of Home Affairs has also issued a comprehensive advisory dated 15th May, 2006 on ‘Facilities to the children of women prisoners-Guidelines issued by the Supreme Court – regarding’, which provides inter-alia, for steps to be taken by the States/UTs for providing education and recreation for children of female prisoners and also providing for crèches and nursery attached to the prison for women to look after children of women prisoners – children below three years of age shall be allowed in the crèches while those between three and six years of age shall be looked after in the nursery. Ministry of Home Affairs issued ‘Model Prison Manual, 2016’ to States/ UTs which, inter-alia, provides for taking appropriate steps for welfare of children of women prisoners including their education, health etc. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry for implementing the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act, 2015), which is theprimary legislation for ensuring safety, security, dignity and well-being of children. It defines standards of care and protection to secure the best interest of child. As per Section 2 (14) (i), (v), (ix) and (x) of the JJ Act, a child who is found without any home or settled place of abode and without any ostensible means of subsistence; or who has a parent or guardian and such parent or guardian is found to be unfit or incapacitated, by the Committee or the Board, to care and protect the safety and well-being of the child; or who is found vulnerable and is likely to be inducted into drug abuse or trafficking; or who is being or is likely to be abused for unconscionable gains, respectively, is included as a “child in need of care and protection”. Sections 27-30 of the JJ Act, 2015 empower the Child Welfare Committees to take decisions with regard to the children in need of care and protection, keeping their best interest in mind. The Committees are also mandated to monitor the functions of the CCIs. Similarly, sections 04-09 of the JJ Act, 2015 empower the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) to take decisions regarding the welfare of children in conflict with law. The primary responsibility of execution of the JJ Act lies with the State Governments. This Ministry is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely ‘Mission Vatsalya’, through the State and UT Governments to deliver various services for overall development of children in difficult circumstances, including children whose parents are incarcerated. These services include Institutional Care and Non-Institutional Care. The Child Care Institutions (CCIs) established under the Mission Vatsalya scheme support, inter-alia, age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counselling etc. Under non- institutional care, support is provided to the children through Sponsorship, Foster Care, Adoption and After Care. As per the information received from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the State and UT wise data on number of children living with women prisoners is enclosed at Annexure. *****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (C) OF THE RAJYA SABHA UN- STARRED QUESTION NO. 2231 FOR ANSWER ON 11.03.2026 BY DR. AJEET MADHAVRAO GOPCHADE REGARDING WELFARE OF CHILDREN LIVING WITH WOMEN PRISONERS As per the information received from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), State and UT wise data on number of children living with women prisoners is as follows:- Sl. Total No. of Women Prisoners Total No. of Children State/UT No. with Children 1 ANDHRA PRADESH 16 19 2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 0 0 3 ASSAM 30 40 4 BIHAR 167 186 5 CHHATTISGARH 60 64 6 GOA 1 1 7 GUJARAT 20 25 8 HARYANA 28 30 9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 3 3 10 JHARKHAND 84 93 11 KARNATAKA 21 24 12 KERALA 4 4 13 MADHYA PRADESH 126 137 14 MAHARASHTRA 47 53 15 MANIPUR 5 5 16 MEGHALAYA 0 0 17 MIZORAM 18 19 18 NAGALAND 0 0 19 ODISHA 37 41 20 PUNJAB 49 52 21 RAJASTHAN 31 33 22 SIKKIM 0 0 23 TAMIL NADU 18 22 24 TELANGANA 4 425 TRIPURA 7 11 26 UTTAR PRADESH 311 345 27 UTTARAKHAND 20 22 28 WEST BENGAL 170 214 29 A & N ISLANDS 0 0 30 CHANDIGARH 3 3 31 DNH & DAMAN DIU 0 0 32 DELHI 31 34 33 JAMMU & KASHMIR 7 8 34 LADAKH 0 0 35 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0 36 PUDUCHERRY 0 0 *****