New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the AAP government to ensure necessary infrastructure is set up in the district courts and child care institutions or homes for recording statements of rescued children via video conferencing.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan also said the infrastructure shall be maintained by the Delhi government.

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It said the magistrates, who would be recording the statements, were at liberty to do so through video conference or by personally visiting the children at the child care homes.

To this extent the court allowed the PIL moved by the NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), seeking directions to the Delhi government and the police to record the statements of rescued children via video-conference, instead of taking them to court during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The petition, moved through advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, had also sought that COVID testing of such children be done at the child care institutions or homes where they are lodged or at the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), instead of transporting them to government hospitals for the same.

During the hearing on Tuesday via video conferencing, Prabhsahay Kaur placed before the court the NGO's suggestions that rescued children's statements be recorded via video conference.

It also suggested that as an alternative the magistrate can visit the child care home to record the statement and that mobile vans can be used to collect the samples of the children for COVID-19 testing.

The Delhi government agreed with the suggestions and the court said it will incorporate them in its order, which is yet to be made available.

The NGO, in its plea, had said it had carried out a raid recently with the authorities and rescued several children from child labour.

Thereafter, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) directed the police to record the statements of children before a magistrate in accordance with section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The petition had contended that both the CWC and the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case are "irrationally" insisting that the children be physically taken to the Karkardooma Court for recording their statements, despite the concerns related to COVID-19 raised by the officials of a home run by the NGO -- Mukti Ashram.

It had contended that the actions of the CWC and the IO are contrary to the Supreme Court's April 3 order to arrange for online sittings or video-conferencing in cases involving children in need of care and protection.

The petition had said even the Juvenile Justice Rules of 2016 provide for recording of statements under section 164, CrPC via video-conference.

After the last date of hearing on July 20, police filed a status report stating that it had taken the rescued to court for recording their statement as per the directions of the CWC and the court staff.

The Department of Women and Child Development (WCD) had also filed an affidavit stating that the rehab home where the children were staying had itself put them at risk by sending them out for recording their statements.

It also said that the CWC never insisted that children be physically produced and that all CWCs have video conferencing equipment and infrastructure.

(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)