Supreme Court seeks response from NCPCR on children’s condition
Today the Supreme Court summoned the reply from the child rights body NCPCR over a letter directing eight states to ensure handing over of children living in child care homes to their families. Only in these eight states, 70 percent of the children living in children’s homes live in the country.
A bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao, Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Ajay Rastogi, taking cognizance of the letter, issued notice to NCPCR and fixed October 24 as the next date of hearing in the case.
The bench directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Center, to get the necessary guidelines in this regard.
Senior advocate Gaurav Aggarwal, in the role of amicus curiae in this case, while bringing the letter to the notice of the court said that the covid-19 epidemic is still continuing in these states and National Child Rights Protection.
It is noteworthy that the apex court is hearing the situation of children kept safe in child houses, juvenile correctional homes, etc. in the country in the wake of covid-19 epidemic. Earlier, the court had issued guidelines to the state governments and various bodies to protect these children.
On July 21, the supreme court had directed the central government to provide detailed information about the amount provided to all states and union territories for running child care institutions (CCIs) by affidavit. The court was asked to inform Agarwal about the good measures that various states are taking for the care of children and Kalyana.
The NCPCR in a letter issued on September 24 to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Mizoram, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Meghalaya said that every child has the right to be brought up in a family environment.
The letter said that this decision has been taken in view of the concern about the safety and security of the children living in these houses.
Currently, 2.56 lakh children are living in child houses in the country of which 1.84 lakh percent children belong to these eight states.
The NCPCR had directed the District Collectors of these states to ensure that these children return to their families within 100 days and that the children who cannot be sent to the family are sent for adoption or to the parenting centers.
By Priya Kumari
