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The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Union government to submit within a week a report detailing measures taken to curb what it termed the “very rampant” crime of child trafficking in the national capital.
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A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, hearing the matter on its own motion, expressed dismay at the scale of the problem and the interstate gangs operating within and beyond Delhi. “We would like to know from the Union government what steps have been taken to curb this crime… Let this report be filed at the earliest,” the court ordered.
The bench, assisted by senior advocate Aparna Bhat, also called for copies of the bail orders by subordinate courts releasing two accused in child trafficking cases in Delhi. “We want to know the status of investigations into the Delhi case. We have also been informed that two accused… have been released on bail. We would like to examine these bail orders,” the court said.
The proceedings followed the court’s April 21 direction to police to intensify their hunt for a gang leader known by the single name of “Pooja” and recover three infants sold to different buyers. At the time, inspector Vishvendra Chaudhary of special staff, Dwarka, informed the bench that the parents of the missing infants may themselves have sold them. The court, describing the case as a “big challenge” for the investigating team, said the situation was “going from bad to worse” in child trafficking cases.
HT had reported on July 30 about the nexus that brings babies from poor people in villages and tribal areas and sends them to the rich in Delhi.
The matter stems from an April 15 judgment in which the apex court, alarmed by the trafficking of newborns from hospitals, ordered trials in such cases to be completed in six months, cancelled bail for 13 accused in an inter-state trafficking racket, and mandated suspension of licences of hospitals from which infants were trafficked.
“When any woman comes to deliver her baby in any hospital, it is the responsibility of the administration of the hospital to protect the newborn infant in all respects,” the court ordered then.
In that case, the bench had severely criticised the “callous” approach of the Allahabad High Court in granting bail to the accused despite the “serious nature of the crime” and their established modus operandi. It underscored that the liberty of such offenders is “not in the realm of absolutism” and must yield to the community’s need for security.
The April 15 ruling also directed all high courts to collect and review data on pending child trafficking trials, and instruct trial courts to finish them within six months. It said the states must act on recommendations of a 2023 National Human Rights Commission-backed study urging that all missing children cases be treated as suspected trafficking until proven otherwise.
It had also urged parents to remain “extremely vigilant and careful”. “We want to convey a message to one and all, more particularly to parents across the country that they should remain extremely vigilant and careful with their children. A slight carelessness or negligence or laxity on their part may prove to be extremely costly. The pain and agony which parents may have to face when a child dies is different from the pain and agony that parents may have to face when they lose their children to such gangs engaged in trafficking,” the court observed.
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