HC asks govt to follow action plan for eliminating child labour

New Delhi : The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the AAP government and the police to strictly follow the Delhi Action Plan for total abolition of child labour, which gives the procedure for interim care and protection of the rescued children.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar noted that the Delhi action plan was submitted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and accepted by the court in its orders of July 15, 2009 and November 5, 2014.

The bench said it is the bounden duty of the authorities to ensure that there is no violation of the provisions of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act and the Bounded Labour System (Abolition) Act.

The court was hearing an application by NGO 'Save the Childhood Foundation' seeking implementation of the court's 2009 judgement to prevent and eliminate child labour. It said the authorities should keep in mind the directions given by it for the welfare of children.

The court, while disposing of the plea, incorporated the suggestions given by senior advocate H S Phoolka and lawyers Prabhsahay Kaur and Shilpa Diwan on the issue of elimination of child labour and gave them as directions to various departments of the Delhi government and civic bodies, Delhi Police and Delhi Legal Service Authority.

Advocate Mini Pushkarna, representing the East and North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said they have already started taking action and various initiatives have been taken by the departments for rehabilitation of the rescued children. The Delhi action plan provides for a detailed procedure to be adopted at the pre-rescue and actual rescue stage.

The pre-rescue plan deals with as to how information is to be collected, verified and as to the composition of the rescue team as well as what training it to be imparted in advance to the members of the team.

The pre-rescue plan also provides for preparation of residential centres through Juvenile Justice Homes and NGO shelter for accommodating the child labour proposed to be rescued.

The action plan further provides a detailed procedure for interim care and protection of the rescued children and for immediate medical examination of the minors and as to how investigation is to be conducted and charge sheet is to be prepared. In an action taken report, the Delhi government had earlier said that it rescued 611 kids from child labour in 2018-19 of whom 587 has been restored to their families.