Don't Delay Identification & Rehabilitation Of Street Children, Supreme Court Directs States

On Monday, the Supreme Court asked the States to complete the identification and rehabilitation process of the Children in Street Situations ("CiSS") at the earliest. Looking at the slow progress in the identification process, the Apex Court directed all the District Magistrates to involve Special Juvenile Police Units, District Legal Service Authorities and voluntary organisations in identification of the CiSS.The Court also directed the states to frame a policy for rehabilitation of street children, after their identification, with the guidance of the NCPCR.The Court ordered :"...we direct all the DMs to involve the SJPUs, DLSA and voluntary organisations in identification of CiSS without any further delay. The DMs are also directed to upload the information at all stages on the Bal Swaraj (CiSS) web-portal... Without any delay, the State Govts, with the guidance of NCPCR shall formulate a policy for rehabilitation after they have been identified and rescued from the streets. In the status report to be filed by the State Govts./UTs in a period of three weeks from today, steps taken in this regard shall also be mentioned..... We direct the State Govts. to instruct all the concerned authorities not to delay the identification and rehabilitation of CiSS" On perusal of the latest affidavit filed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights ("NCPCR") and upon hearing the Counsels for the States, a Bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.V. Nagarathna observed that States had failed to upload the requisite information on the Bal Swaraj ("CiSS") portal in compliance with the directions in the orders passed by the Apex Court on previous occasions. In view of the same, the Bench asked the State Governments to direct the District Magistrates ("DMs") to upload the information at all stages on the said web-portal. Advocate, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi appearing on behalf of NCPCR placed its affidavit on record in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court dated 13.12.2021. She submitted that NCPCR had sent letters to the Principal Secretaries of all the States inviting them to participate in the meetings conducted by it on 5th, 6th and 7th of January, 2022. The Bench was apprised that twenty-three (23) States had participated in the said meeting. The Bench enquired, "Which are the states which did not participate in the meeting?"Ms. Chaturvedi sought time to address the query posed by the Court. However, she pointed out that the States that have participated in the meeting have also not shown much improvement in the process of identification and rehabilitation. It was urged that the States should not only participate, but ensure that steps are taken to address the issue at hand. It was highlighted that the lack of data is acting as an impediment for the Commission in taking further steps. "States who have participated have not shown very big improvement that they are collecting data or even what data they have collected they are taking steps in rehabilitation. One is that everybody has to participate in the discussions. When they are participating they should also take substantial steps in identifying and then rehabilitation. What we have analysed is that every state has certain policy but only because there is no data available that is what the problem is. Since the data received is very less, we are still stuck at that point." Additional Solicitor General, Mr. K.M. Nataraj appearing on behalf of NCPCR emphasised on three aspects of the issue that he wanted to bring to the Court's notice. He informed the Court that the States were not uploading information on the Bal Swaraj-CiSS web-portal. He contended that only 9000 children have been identified as per data uploaded in the portal, when he was certain that the actual numbers would be more than 10 lakhs. It was also pointed out that qua the two lakh children identified in West Bengal and Maharashtra by an NGO, West Bengal has done a good job in identifying these children, whereas the same cannot be said about Maharashtra. Mr. Nataraj further apprised the Court that NCPCR were in the process of formulating a model policy in this regard that could be adopted by the States. "Three things I would like to point out on behalf of NCPCR. [...] One more important aspect is that in the table the response of the States uploaded is 9000. Very very surprising. The number would be more than 10 lakhs. No state is uploading into the system, Bal Swaraj portal. Kindly see the table. Unless we carry forward this particular aspect we cannot achieve anything. I pointed out when model survey was conducted by one of the NGO, they identified about 2 lakhs children in a few cities and in two states i.e. West Bengal and Maharashtra. Taking that as a basis I pointed out that the number would go about more than 10 lakhs at least. Second part is in respect of those 2...

Don't Delay Identification & Rehabilitation Of Street Children, Supreme Court Directs States

Sohini Chowdhury

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