The Violence of Protection: Child Labour Laws and the Suppression of Agency

Abstract

This paper examines the foundational violence embedded in laws aimed at protecting children in India, focusing on child labour legislation and the regulation of “railway children”. By analyzing the processes of creating and implementing these laws, as well as ethnographic accounts of state-conducted rescue raids and children’s lived experiences, the paper reveals the ways in which children’s agency is systematically negated. Despite the rhetoric of protection and rehabilitation, state plans and NGO interventions often fail to address the complexities and lived realities of children’s lives, resulting in policies that perpetuate rather than mitigate harm.

Tracing the history of child labour laws and their enforcement, this paper demonstrates how legal and regulatory frameworks silence children’s voices and experiences, prioritizing adult-driven narratives over children’s perspectives. Highlighting initiatives like Bhima Sangha, Makkala Panchayat, and Muktangan, the paper argues for a reconceptualization of childhood that recognizes children as active participants in shaping their futures. By foregrounding children’s agency, it challenges the hegemonic discourse on child rights and calls for a democratic, inclusive approach to law-making that seeks to reduce the inherent violence of legal systems. Ultimately, it proposes that listening to children and involving them meaningfully in the formulation of laws is essential for addressing the structural violence underlying child protection policies.