Jharkhand High Court
Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs State Of Jharkhand & Ors on 12 December, 2017
Author: Aparesh Kumar Singh
Bench: Aparesh Kumar Singh, B.B. Mangalmurti
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P. (PIL) No. 139 of 2011
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Bachpan Bachao Andolan --- ---- Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & others --- --- Respondents
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CORAM:The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice B.B. Mangalmurti
For the Petitioner:M/s Jagjit Singh Chhabra, Amit Kr. Tiwari, Advocates
For the Resp - State:
Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, GP-II, Arbind Kumar, JC to GP-II
For the Resp - UOI:
Mr. B.K. Prasad, JC to ASGI
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49/ 12.12.2017The Respondent Principal Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development & Social Security, Government of Jharkhand has filed a supplementary counter affidavit on 06.12.2017 after our previous order dated 13.11.2017. This affidavit by and large intends to address the entire issues relating to protection of child rights through strategic intervention at three stages; (i) Preventive (ii) Rehabilitative and (iii) Re-integrative.
2. Preventive Strategy
(i) Under the Preventive Strategy, 22,745 Village Child Protection Committees (VCPC) have been formed at village level which comprise of 09 members inter- alia, Gram Pradhan, Anganwadi Worker, Member from Health Committee, Member from Self Help Group, two Members from Vidyalaya Prabandhan Samiti and one nominated Member from Gram Sabha. This Committee is to conduct monthly meeting to keep a track of and report cases of missing child from their respective revenue villages. Inputs of these Committees provide healthy and local information on various movement of the child from their respective areas.
(ii) The Respondent Department has also established District Child Protection Units (DCPU) in all districts of the State in convergence with various Departments namely, Labour, Education, Police along with other stakeholders and addressed the issue of awareness and capacity building programmes by conducting campaigns.
(iii) A Child Helpline (8877444444) has been started by the CID, Jharkhand and e-mail ([email protected]) has been circulated to report cases of missing children and child trafficking.
(iv) A Core Convergent Committee comprises of nodal officers from Labour, Women, Child Development and Social Security and Criminal Investigation Department with representative from United Nation and Non-Governmental Organization has been constituted to take action in respect of the cases related to child trafficking.
(v) Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya provides admission to vulnerable girl child so that they do not become the victim of child trafficking.
2.(vi) 26 Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPU) have been established in all 24 districts of the State including two Rail Districts i.e. Dhanbad and Jamshedpur.
(vii) Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society has Anti-Human Trafficking Programme to create awareness in the districts having high prevalence of child trafficking.
(viii) During the presence of Nobel Laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi on 22 nd and 23rd May 2017, campaign has been launched with a slogan "Save Child Save Nation". Further programme have also been organized on 25 th September 2017 on the eve of Bharat Yatra by Nobel Laureate with the emphasis on child trafficking.
3. Rehabilitative Strategy Intervention:
(i) It is intended to discourage the incidence of child trafficking. As per the figures, 2397 children have been rescued from the State of Jharkhand out of 2675 traced till phase-III of Operation Muskan started on 30.04.2015. Jharkhand Police has also launched a Facebook Page (Operation Muskan-CID, Jharkhand) to take quick action in cases of missing / trafficked children and share up-dates by Jharkhand Police. Children rescued under Operation Muskan have been successfully rehabilitated in different Children Homes and many of them have been restored to their respective families.
(ii) In order to provide safe shelter to the rescued and missing children, 23 Children Homes have been established, out of which, 15 are fully functional and 08 New Children Homes would be operational within 15 days.
(iii) Department has selected five Open Shelter Homes in different districts to provide short term stay to such children who are prone to trafficking. Under Integrated Child Protection Schemes, 15 Specialized Child Adoption Agency have been established, 08 out of them which are newly selected, would be operational within 15 days. They are to address rehabilitation of children who have surrendered or are orphan and abandoned in the age group of 0-6 years.
4. Strategy relating to Re-integration of the victim children who have suffered due to child trafficking.
(i) Department has finalized Foster Care and Sponsorship Guidelines which is waiting Cabinet approval. This will enhance the integration of the child through family / community ownership. Financial provisions have been made as per ICPS norms.
(ii) In all 24 districts of the State, Child Welfare Committee has been duly notified to provide speedy disposal of the cases relating to child protection and child trafficking.
3.5. Learned counsel for the State has made efforts to elaborate the comprehensive intervention strategies which have been formulated to address the issue of protection of child rights and prevention as well as rehabilitation of missing / trafficked children right from its genesis. Learned counsel for the State Mr. Mishra further submits that these intervention strategies have to be strengthened more and more by laying down guidelines and preparation of module for efficient and effective functioning of the Village Child Protection Committee (VCPC), District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), Specialized Juvenile Police Units and also norms for proper functioning of the Children Homes / Open Shelter Homes, Specialized Adoption Agency, etc. Other stakeholders, Department / Agency, NGO have also been taken on board and work is in progress.
6. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that steps taken by the Respondent Department are indeed welcome. They are likely to address the issues relating to protection of child rights and control of child trafficking from its genesis by proper intervention by the State as well as other agencies. He has however also pointed out to mismatch in the number of prosecutions launched compared to the number of children rescued from the State of Jharkhand. He has made reference to certain report of National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India on 'Crime in India, 2015' (Crime against Children).
7. We appreciate the efforts taken by the Respondent Department in collaboration with the other Stakeholders, Departments, Agencies, United Nations and NGOs. We also feel that in order to ensure the efficient and effective functioning of such Committees / Units / Adoption Agencies / Shelter Homes at various levels starting from village, a proper module needs to be prepared by the Respondent Department in consultation with the Stakeholders. Adequate guidelines and allocation of funds are also required to be made so that intended objective does not suffer for want of resources. We also feel that the Respondent Department should engage in consultative process with the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA) to ensure that synergy is created for implementing the intervention strategies at every level by the Respondent Department.
8. We direct the Member Secretary, JHALSA to extend all cooperation in the matter keeping into mind Flagship Scheme launched by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to protect the rights of the child. The State of Jharkhand is inhabited by large section of tribal people and those who are from the downtrodden class. The initiative to ensure protection of child rights should 4. therefore be collaborative, imaginatively and scientifically designed to address the issue from the root itself. These agencies should work together to ensure that children in that age group in the State are not denied access to education and are not compelled to be engaged in manual labour or are subjected to abuse or child trafficking. The Respondent Department should therefore come prepared on such modules and guidelines and take steps for strengthening of interventional strategies within a time period. We accordingly grant them eight weeks time to file further status report. We also expect the Respondent Department to apprise the Court about the progress in the matter of Foster Care and Sponsorship Guidelines by the next date.
9. List the case on 14.02.2018 as unfixed case.
(Aparesh Kumar Singh, J) (B.B. Mangalmurti, J) Ranjeet/