India News | Never Meant En Masse Repatriation of Children to Parental Homes: NCPCR to SC

New Delhi, Dec 1 (PTI) The National Commission for Protection of Children Rights (NCPCR) on Tuesday said that its letter of September 24 was only recommendary in nature and it never meant enmasse repatriation of children from care homes to their parental homes.

Maintaining that children in care homes will be repatriated to their parents as per the law, the child right's body said even the Ministry of Women and Child Development has issued a letter in this regard and nullified the impact of the September 24 letter.

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A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta said it was only concerned because a letter of NCPCR appears to direct all chief secretaries to send children en masse to their parental homes.  

“Now that you have clarified we will dispose of the IA(interim appliation). We only want provisions of Juvenile Justice Act to be followed before repatriation of any of the children to their parental homes,” the bench said.

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It said that Children can only be sent after assessment as per the provisions of Juvenile Justice Act.  

At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for NCPCR said that amicus curiae Gaurav Agarwal has raised the concern about the letter but it was only recommendary and not mandatory.  

Agarwal said that they were not aware of the order of the Ministry of Women and Child Development at the time of the last hearing on October 9.  

Mehta said that NCPCR never meant for en masse repatriation of children to their parental homes.

On October 9, the top court had sought response from NCPCR while taking note of its letter which directed eight states, accounting for over 70 per cent of children in care homes, to ensure their return to their families.

The District Magistrates/Collectors of the states -- Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Mizoram, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Meghalaya -- were directed by the NCPCR for repatriation and restoration of children placed in care homes in view of persisting COVID-19 pandemic.

The top court was hearing a suo motu case on the condition of children in protection, juvenile and foster or kinship homes across the country amid the coronavirus outbreak.

It had earlier issued directions to the state governments and various other authorities to protect them.  

The NCPCR had on September 24 issued a letter stating that it is the right of every child to grow up in a familial environment. It had said the decision was taken keeping in view the alarming concerns over the safety and security of children residing in these institutions.

These eight states have 1.84 lakh (or nearly 72 per cent) children in child care homes out of a total of 2.56 lakh in the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)