(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “begging” means—
(i) soliciting or receiving alms in a public place or entering on any private premises for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms whether under the pretence of singing, dancing, fortune-telling, performing tricks or selling articles or otherwise;
(ii) exposing or exhibiting, with the object of obtaining or extorting alms, any sore, wounds, injury, deformity or disease, whether of himself or of any other person or of an animal;
(iii) allowing oneself to be used as an exhibit for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms;
(b) “Board” means the Child Welfare Board constituted under Section 3;
(c) “brothel”, “prostitute”, “prostitution” and “public place” shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 (104 of 1956);
(d) “child” means a boy who has not attained the age of eighteen years or a girl who has not attained the age of sixteen years;
(e) “Children's Court” means a court constituted under Section 4;
(f) “Children's Home-cum-Observation Home” means an institution established or certified by the State Government under Section 8 as a Children's Home-cum-Observation Home;
(g) “competent authority” means, in relation to neglected children, the Board constituted under Section 3 and, in relation to delinquent children a Children's Court constituted under Section 4, and where no such Board or Children's Court has been constituted, includes any court empowered under sub-section (2) of Section 6, to exercise the powers conferred on the Board or Children's Court;
(h) “dangerous drug” shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1930 (2 of 1930);
(i) “delinquent child” means a child who has been found to have committed an offence;
(j) “fit person” or “fit institution” means any person or institution (not being a police station or jail) found fit by the competent authority to receive and take care of a child entrusted to him of its care and protection on the terms and conditions specified by the competent authority;
(k) “guardian” in relation into a child, includes any person who, in the opinion of the competent authority having cognizance of any proceeding in relation to a child, has, for the time being, the actual charge of or control over, that child;
(l) “neglected child” means a child who—
(i) is found begging; or
(ii) is found without having any home or settled place of abode or any ostensible means of subsistence or is found destitute, whether he is an orphan or not; or
(iii) has a parent or guardian who is unfit or unable to exercise or does not exercise proper care and control over the child; or
(iv) lives in a brother or with or prostitute or frequently goes to any place used for the purpose of prostitution, or is found to associate with any other person who leads an immoral, drunken or depraved life;
(m) “offence” means an offence punishable under any law for the time being in force;
(n) “place of safety” means any place or institution (not being a police station or jail) the persons in charge of which is willing temporarily to receive and take care of a child and which in the opinion of the competent authority may be a place of safety for the child;
1. Published in the Tripura Gazette, Extraordinary, Part III, No. 170 dated 2671983 under Notification No. F2(5)-Law/Leg/83, dated May, 1983.
(o) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(p) “Probation Officer” means an officer appointed as a Probation Officer under this Act or under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 (20 of 1958);
(q) “special school” means an institution established or certified by the State Government under Section 9;
(r) “supervision” in relation to a child placed under the age of any parent or guardian or other fit person or fit institution under this Act, means the supervision of that child by a Probation Officer for the purpose of ensuring that the could is properly looked after and that the conditions imposed by the competent authority are complied with;
(s) all words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act 2 of 1974) shall have the meanings assigned to them in that Code.
CHAPTER II COMPETENT AUTHORITIES AND INSTITUTIONS FOR CHILDREN