Orphaned kids plight moves Supreme Court

New Delhi: Observing that it cannot even imagine how many children in this large country have got orphaned due to the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the State authorities to immediately identify them and provide relief.

The top court asked state governments to understand the agony of children starving on the streets and directed the district authorities that they be immediately taken care of without waiting for any further orders from the courts.

A vacation bench of Justices L N Rao and Aniruddha Bose directed district administrations to identify the orphans in their areas and upload their data on the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) website by Saturday evening.

The top court's direction came on an application filed by amicus curiae Gaurav Agrawal in the pending suo motu case seeking identification of orphaned children due to Covid-19 or otherwise and providing them immediate relief by the state governments. The bench said state governments must inform it of the position of these children and the steps they have taken to provide them immediate relief.

"We have read somewhere that in Maharashtra over 2,900 children have lost their one or both the parents due to Covid-19. We don't have an exact number of such children. We cannot even imagine how many such children in this large country have got orphaned due to this devastating pandemic," the bench said.

It told the state government's counsel appearing in the matter, "I hope you understand the agony of the children starving on the streets. You please ask the state authorities to immediately take care of their basic needs". The top court noted that the Centre has already issued advisory to the authorities concerned for the protection of children, who have lost their parents due to COVID-19.

"There is an obligation on the part of the authorities to ensure such children in need are taken care of," the bench said, while referring to various provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act. It said the district administration authorities should upload the latest data of such orphaned children on the website 'Baal Swaraj' of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) by Saturday evening.