The Hindu : New Delhi News : Notices to NGO, Delhi Government

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 29, 2007
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New Delhi

Notices to NGO, Delhi Government

Staff Reporter

On an application by the parents of 14 children seeking their custody

The children were rescued by the Delhi police in South Delhi last month
The respondents asked to file replies by December 12, the next date of hearing

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Delhi Government and a non-government organisation, Bachpan Bachao Aandolan, on a joint application by the parents of 14 children seeking their custody.

The children were rescued by the Delhi police on a tip-off by the NGO from a confectionery shop at Shahpur Jat in South Delhi last month. They hail from West Bengal and are at present in the custody of the NGO on a direction from the Court.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice M. K. Sharma and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked the respondents to file replies to the application by December 12, the next date of hearing.

School drop-outs

Counsel for the applicants, Ashok Aggarwal, submitted that his clients wanted custody of their children as they wanted to send them to schools. Several of the rescued children were school drop-outs, he added.

He submitted that the parents had realised their mistakes and were now ready to make amends.

He further submitted that he had talked to each of the children individually and they all expressed their desire to go with their parents.

However, the Bench refused to immediately hand over the children to their parents, observing that the economic conditions of the applicants did not inspire confidence in the Court that they would take care of their children properly.

The Bench has also been hearing public interest litigation by Mr. Aggarwal seeking directions for the rehabilitation of child labourers rescued from working places across the country.

Mr. Aggarwal approached the High Court in 2005 by bringing to its notice the plight of child labourers belonging to Bihar who had been rescued from “zari” factories here following raids by the Delhi police. He filed the PIL following media reports that several of them had returned to the factories from where they had been rescued. The petition alleged that neither the Centre nor the Delhi Government had any plans to rehabilitate such children.

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