"Don't make this political": Supreme Court slams West Bengal Govt. for 'unreliable' data on orphaned children amid pandemic
The Supreme Court slammed the Mamata Banerjee led government today for making a political issue out of data concerning orphaned children amid the pandemic and shifting the blame on the NCPCR.
While the counsel for the State of West Bengal continued submitting that updating data was an ongoing process, Justice Rao reprimanded the Counsel by saying,
“Don't you understand the gravity of this situation? Don't take such a stand on what basis NCPCR is making such allegations. It's not a political matter. The obligation is yours & not ours. You are under a constitutional obligation to provide relief to the children,”
While hearing its Suo Motu case regarding the condition of children in child protection homes amid the CoVID 19 pandemic as the Mamata Banerjee’s Government submitted that only 27 children became orphans during pandemic against all India reported figure of 6855, the Supreme Court said that the information provided by the State was "unreliable" and "not credible".
The matter was heard by a division bench of Justice LN Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose.
The Court while reiterating its order dated June 7, 2021, wherein directions were issued to the State Governments and Union Territories to continue identifying the children who have become orphans or lost a parent after March 2020 either due to Covid-19 or otherwise directed the District Magistrates of State of West Bengal to collect necessary information about children who have become orphans due to death of CoVID 19 of either parent or both after March 2020 and upload the same at the earliest.
Secretary of the Department of Women and Child Welfare, West Bengal was also directed to file an affidavit showing the particulars of the steps taken for the above direction.
During the course of the hearing, ASG KM Nataraj appearing for the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights submitted that the figures pertaining to children who had become orphaned after March 2020 as updated by the State of Punjab (26) , Jammu and Kashmir (25), and West Bengal (27) on the Bal Swaraj Portal appeared to be unrealistic.
The Counsel appearing for the State of West Bengal Advocate Sayandeep submitted that the total number of children who were orphans (who have lost both their parents) was only 27.
Replying to Advocate Sayandeep’s submission, Justice LN Rao said, “You're not prepared to reveal the figures. How is it possible that in such a big state only 27 children have become orphans?”
To mitigate the situation, another Advocate Suhaan Mukherjee appearing for the State of West Bengal submitted that the information was only sought for the children who had become orphans due to CoVID 19 pandemic and did not contain information with respect to the children who had become orphans during CoVID after March 2020.
Also Read: 'Schemes exist on paper but we need to realise them": Supreme Court issues directions in suo motu case concerning protection of children in Child Care Institutions amid pandemic
Case Title: In Re Contagion of COVID 19 Virus In Children Protection Homes | SMW No. 4 of 2020