The Supreme Court has sought response from the Union government and the National Disaster Management Authority on a petition seeking framing of a policy to prevent child trafficking which has allegedly seen a sudden rise during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Hearing the PIL filed by the NGO, ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’, run by Nobel laureate Kailash Satayathi, a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notices to the NDMA, Ministries of Home Affairs and Labour and Empowerment and nine states.
The court took note of the submissions of senior advocate H S Phoolka on behalf of the NGO and asked him to find and suggest ‘some way’ to ensure that children are not ‘exploited’.
Seeking the assistance of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta during the hearing via video conferencing, the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hrisheksh Roy, said it may appoint an experts committee to look into the child trafficking issue and asked Phoolka to do some homework for suggesting ways to deal with the problem.
Assisted by lawyers Jagjit Chabbra and Prabhsahay Kaur, Phoolka said that a pro-active approach is required by all district authorities to ensure that such incidents, which have risen recently, are effectively curbed. The law officer said that the matter was not adversarial in nature and would assist the court in dealing with the issue.
The apex court also asked the NGO also suggest mechanisms to control the market of Child Labour and prevent contractors from employing child labour. The nine States to which the top court issued notices are Assam, Bihar, Chattishgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi, and Telangana. It has fixed the hearing on PIL after two weeks.
The NGO in its plea said that these States have seen largest number of transfer of migrant workers and this is the time when children trafficking can be effectively curbed.
“Issue an appropriate writ directing Respondent no.1 (NDMA) to frame an appropriate policy/guidelines on prevention of trafficking of children and their rescue and rehabilitation in the wake of COVID-19 at the earliest,” the plea said.
The plea also sought a direction to the NDMA and the Centre to circulate the policy so prepared under to Chief Secretaries of all states and governors of all UTs for action and mandatory implementation.
All States, as urged by the petition, should activate their anti-human trafficking units to prevent and take appropriate action on child trafficking including but not limited to identifying the known and potential traffickers, monitoring and sharing information and intelligence with the Centre as a part of coordinated response and action. Because, children are the future of the nation.