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HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
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Hon'ble Amar Saran, J. |
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We have heard Shri A.K. Sand, learned Additional Government Advocate, Shri Jagriti Singh, an advocate and intervenor, Shri Sanjiv Singh, another advocate and intervener, a representative of the intervening NGO, "Don Bosco Ashalayam," Lucnow and Shri D.K. Singh, Joint Registrar, High Court, Allahabad. The Member Secretary, Shri Sudhir Saxena and Anil Kumar, Secretary of the Legal Services Authority were present on 16.5.2008 along with representatives of the NGO "Don Bosco Ashalayam," Lucknow, when they were heard in chambers. We have also perused the affidavits and documents filed by the said parties. |
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An affidavit of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Legal Cell) DGP Headquarters, U.P. Lucknow dated 16.5.2008 has been filed on behalf of the Director General of Police. From a perusal of the said affidavit along with the data furnished earlier, it appears that between 2000 and 2005 there were 1971 reported missing children. In the year 2006 there were 3641 reported missing children. Therefore, for the period 2000 and 2006 there was a total 5612 children who were reported missing. In our last order dated 28.3.2008, it was pointed out that out of these 5612 children 4888 children have been recovered (or accounted for as dead) and 724 children remained to be traced out. By means of the present affidavit, it is pointed out that between 1.2.2008 and 30.4.2008 a further number of 192 children have been recovered and, therefore, for the years 2000-2006, 553 children now remain to be traced out. Thereafter as it was directed by the order dated 28.3.2008 that the number of missing children who were reported missing in the years 2007-2008 be furnished giving the disaggregated break-up as regards age and gender, it has been indicated in the present affidavit that in the year 2007, 989 and in the year 2008, 1058 children were reported missing. Out of these children with respect to the year 2007, 359 children, and with respect to the year 2008, 557 children have been traced out and 1141 children remain to be traced out for the years 2007 and 2008 (up to 30.4.08). Therefore, the final picture which emerges is that out of 7659 children, who have been reported missing since 2000-2008 (up to 30.4.2008), 5965 children have been recovered (or accounted for) and 1694 children still remain to be traced out. It is pointed out that out of these 1694 children, 451 are female and 1243 are male. Out of these children 26 female children are of the age group of 5 years, 69 female children are in the age group of 5-10 years and 356 female children are in the age group of 10-18 years. Although recovering 5965 children is a commendable achievement, but till the last missing child of the 1694 children who still remain missing or who may later be reported to have gone missing, is recovered and united with his/her family, and until we wipe the last tears from every such family, our mission to recover all missing children (and in which endeavour the police, and all concerned government departments, panchayats, civil society groups, committed lawyers on the State and private sides and other caring human beings are co-operating so whole-heartedly with the Court) shall remain unfinished. We particularly hope that special steps shall be taken for tracing out on a a priority basis the missing girl child of very young age who is still not found. It is therefore directed that the police and other authorities should continue with redoubled efforts to recover the remaining 1694 missing children and other missing children about whom there may be subsequent reports and continue to submit the updated position of the remaining missing children and the number of children rescued on the next date of listing of this petition and on subsequent dates, with special attention to the missing girl children of very young ages. A representative of the NGO 'Don Bosco Ashalayam', Lucknow sought to point out that it is not clear whether the children, who are claimed to have been recovered by the police, have actually been recovered at the instance of the police or they have themselves returned. We think, this is not the time for cynicism or for quibbling over such facts. Tracing out a missing child should be a pious endeavour. It should not become a game for one-upmanship. It is not very material whether the child returns back on his/her own or is rescued as a result of police operations. The important point is that the missing child must be found. We have little reason at present to doubt the sincerity of the Director General of Police and the higher police officials, who seem to be fully sharing the humane mission in which this Court is engaged. Annexure 5 of the affidavit on behalf of the DGP mentions the fact that information has been received from various zones about publication of reports of missing children in various newspapers and in different television channels and that the DGP himself has been conducting monthly meetings in his office in order to sincerely monitor police efforts for tracing out the missing children. There can be no denying the fact that, whereas earlier complainants who used to approach the police stations for registering an FIR about his missing child were routinely rebuffed by station officers or were cynically asked to produce the lost child, now clear directions have been given to subordinate police officials from time to time to register FIRs and to take action if a cognizable offence regarding kidnapping of a child is suspected. Compliance of the said direction has been entrusted to the senior police officials, missing children cells have been constituted for this purpose in all districts, and records are being maintained. Emphasis has also been made in such orders for tracing the lost children of the resourceless poor and not only the missing wards of the wealthy and influential. The affidavit filed on behalf of the DGP annexes the posters which have been put up by the police department at different places in public interest. One poster calls upon the public to instantly contact the local police or the police control room at telephone No. 100 or at the cells in the district police offices or helpline (sic Childline at its number 1098?) and to make the photographs of the missing children available and to give other details. A second poster mentions that the small child should be made to remember his/her name and address and a chit should be kept in his/her pocket containing his/her name, fathers' name, address and telephone number (if any). The child should not be allowed to go out alone and special precautions should be taken for the child's safety in fares and other public gatherings. The child should be told not to accompany or to accept food from strangers. On receiving an information that an accident of a family member has taken place the child should be discouraged from immediately accompanying a stranger furnishing such information. The child should be directed to inform his/her parents before going to any place and the parents should have knowledge of the child's friends and the child should be asked not to roam about and motivational stories should be taught to the children to enhance their courage and confidence, in case they fall in the hands of a kidnapper. Putting up such posters and making consistent efforts in this direction certainly demonstrates the sensitivity of the present police administration to this heart rending issue of a child who has gone missing. Although it is quite possible that some of the subordinate police officials may be still re-miss in discharge of their duties in this regard, or behave in an insensitive fashion, for which they need to be pulled up by the higher police authorities. We however envision this mission as a non-adversarial, co-operative and transparent venture, where a relationship of trust, mutual support and free sharing of information is built up between the police, government officials, NGO's and civil society groups, local bodies and concerned individuals, because we are conscious of the fact that without the involvement of the public at large, and concerned groups and individuals this problem of the missing child can never be comprehensively addressed. We would like the AGA to make available various counter-affidavits and other documents available with the State which are sought by the intervening NGOs or other parties so that these civil society groups can render effective assistance and also point out to this Court the limitations in the steps taken so far, to enable the Court to issue suitable directions. |
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Shri Sand, learned Additional Government Advocate has further drawn our attention to an affidavit filed on behalf of the Principal Secretary, Primary Education, U.P., which shows that substantial compliance has now been made of the directions contained in our orders dated 17.7.2007, 18.9.2007, 16.11.2007 and 28.3.2008 for ensuring implementation of the fundamental right to free and compulsory education for the age group of 6-14 years as required by Article 21-A of the Constitution (vide 86th Amendment Act, 2002). We had issued the said directions because we felt that if it was ensured that every child was present in school as mandated by the said Constitutional provision and the decisions of the Apex Court as well as this Court, when any child was found out of school during school hours it could be presumed that such a child had run away because he had been abused at home or he/she was a trafficked child or a child engaged in unacceptable or illegal child labour. Until such time as the Parliament or State legislatures could promulgate laws for giving teeth to the requirements of Article 21-A a duty could be cast on head masters, teachers, village Pradhans and village Panchayat Adhikaris to ensure that every child of the required ages of 6 to 14 years attends school.
We are indeed very happy to note that a Government Order dated 13.5.2008 has
been issued by the Chief Secretary, U.P. to the effect that in pursuance of the
orders in this Writ petition dated 17.7.2007 and 18.9.2007 the State Government
after due deliberation on the matter directs that if any child of the age group
of 6-14 years is found out of school during school hours, it would be treated as
a violation of Article 21-A of the Constitution and in such circumstances the
Headmasters, Teachers, Village Pradhan, Village Panchayat Adhikari would be
jointly liable for not fulfilling their responsibilities and appropriate action
shall be taken against them. It may be noted that although, it is claimed in paragraph 9 of the affidavit on behalf of the Principal Secretary (Primary Education) that in the age group of 6-14 years out of a total population of 3,97,81,164 children 3,93,06,813 children were enrolled in the primary/upper schools and only 4,74,351 children were out of schools. Furthermore, 2,29,040 children were registered in Education Guarantee Centres and Alternative and Innovative Education Centres, hence only 2,45,311 children were out of school and that 99.38% of the eligible children have been enrolled in the schools. But on the face of it these figures appear to be too flattering to be true. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report figure prepared by the reputed NGO, Pratham shows that 5.9% of children in the age group of 6-14 years are out of schools. Thus, out of the approximate population of eligible school going children of these ages in the State, which totalled 384 lakhs, (when the survey was conducted), 22.65 lakh children would be out of school by extrapolating the ASER sample survey data. The Principal Secretary (Primary Education's) affidavit sought to point out that in a subsequent ASER survey the percentage of out of schools children in the age group of 6-14 was reported 3.9 percent. This would still mean that 15,51,465 (out of the present estimated total of 3,97,81,164 children) were still out of school. Even the low estimate as per the SSA survey conducted up to 2007, the figures of out of schools children was 1.2 percent, or 4,77,374 which was almost double of the figure of 2,45,311 mentioned in paragraph 9 of the affidavit on behalf of the Principal Secretary. In spite of the substantial expenditure earmarked for education under SSA etc., if schooling in government schools was adequate and profitable, we would not find that an average of about 29.1% would be attending private schools instead of government schools [as noted in Pratham's ASER performance report which has been annexed as annexure 1 to the Principal Secretary (Primary Education's) affidavit]. More alarming is the scenario that the level of learning outcomes in the schools is dismally low as per the ASER survey, and the situation is worse in the government schools compared to the private schools and that is the reason why in spite of the fact that the incentive of mid day meals has been provided since December, 2004 in the government and government aided primary schools and since 1.4.2008 even in the upper primary schools, still such a large proportion of people are preferring to send their children to the mushrooming ill-equipped private primary schools with their underpaid teachers. This does suggest the gross under performance and lack of accountability of teachers in government or government aided schools, and shows that there are grave problems with the quality of teaching and learning in the government schools. The survey findings and short note of the head of "Pratham," Sri Madhav Chauhan (Annexures 1 and 2 to the Principal Secretary's affidavit) also shows that 38.2% of children in Standards 1 to 2 could not even identify alphabets in the middle of the academic year when the survey was conducted by ASER and so far as the children of standards 3-5 are concerned, 48% of children could not even read the text of level 1 (i.e. the text relating to standard 1 in their own language). 57.2% of children in standards 3-5 could not even subtract. We are also receiving reports that how students who pass out of the public educational system (even in higher classes including after obtaining technical education) are largely unemployable.
There is, therefore, no cause for complacency, celebration or for patting one
selves on the back regarding the level of learning achievements of children in
the relevant age groups. It cannot be denied that one push factor which induces
children to drop out of the school system and to get engaged in child labour or
to become a prey for child traffickers, is the harsh, uncaring atmosphere and
absence of learning in the primary schools. It is also pointed out in paragraph 12 of the affidavit that during the period May, 2007 to April, 2008, 201368 surprise inspections were conducted in the schools by the officials of the Basic Education Directorate and District Administration and disciplinary proceedings were initiated against 9861 teachers. But clearly relying only on government officials for taking errant teachers to task is an inadequate measure. As mentioned in paragraph 6 of the Principal Secretary's affidavit that for achieving universal enrolment, retention and quality enhancement, mobilizing community support for universal enrolment and enrichment of school environment and establishing linkages with Panchayati Raj and other departments and voluntary non-government organizations is also necessary. But the said Government Order does not at all contemplate a responsible role for the parents, local community or the panchayats or even NGOs and civil society groups working on the issue of compulsory primary education. If we are to right this widespread malaise, the DMs, ADM's and other school inspectors should be directed to take action on receiving complaints of teacher absenteeism and poor quality of teaching by parents, NGOs and civil society groups, panchayats and other local bodies and other concerned individuals. This school system can not be improved by mere random inspections of DMs, ADMs, and SDM's who are already overworked and overburdened. We must ensure that the general public including the parents and other concerned persons mentioned above must be involved in this process. We would like feedback on this direction from the Principal Secretary, Primary Education/ Chief Secretary on the next date of listing. We would also like a status report with greater details about the extent to which the DM's or the ADM's/SDM's etc. are conducting random inspections of at least 50 schools per week as mandated by the Chief Secretary's government order dated 11.10.07. We would be happy if wider publicity is given in the press and other media of these directions so that parents, guardians and civil society groups, which are concerned about making the fundamental right to education a reality for all children aged 6-14 years may be informed about these directions and government orders dated 13.5.08 and 11.10.07, and can exert pressure on District Magistrates, Education inspectors and other concerned government officials to take action against the absentee or non-performing teachers, and also against errant Headmasters, Teachers, Village Pradhans and Village Panchayat Adhikaris, if they spot any child of the relevant age not attending school. On the next date, we would, therefore, like a better response from the Principal Secretary, (Primary Education) U.P./ Chief Secretary as to what measures are proposed to be initiated for a more effective involvement of the community, parents associations, local bodies, NGOs and civil society groups for monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching and other activities in the schools including the provision of mid day meal and for ensuring the attendance of teachers in the schools and what action the government proposes to initiate if complaints are made by these concerned parties and we would also be happy if civil society groups come forward for conducting social audits and for monitoring whether these promised provisions and claims are being implemented in reality and provide feed back to the Court in these matters. For improving the quality of learning, it is mentioned in paragraph 12-D of the Education Secretary's affidavit that NCERT has developed monitoring formats for quality and dimensions for evaluation of quality aspects of teaching and that clusters at the school/community levels, block, district and state levels have been identified, but these claim appear to be mere pious statements of intention and there is no indication that any concrete steps have been taken or outcomes achieved as a result of these suggestions. On the next date the Principal Secretary (Primary Education) U.P., may indicate as to what concrete steps have been taken for improving teachers training and for improving the quality of teaching in the schools, and whether there has been any effort to evaluate the outcomes of such training programmes, beyond carrying out a certain number of training programmes. One excellent measure proposed to be taken by the State Government is the provision for getting digitalized photographs of all school going children of the age group of 6 to 14 years taken with regard to which a Government Order dated 19.3.2008 (Annexure 8) has been issued which shows that the Government has earmarked a budget of Rs. 7,17,04000/- in the financial year 2007-08 for preparation of identity cards with photographs of all the students of primary and upper primary schools and that it is mentioned in paragraph 14 that for the year 2008-09 a further sum of Rs. 5 crore is likely to be sanctioned for this purpose. This shows a very positive compliance of our earlier orders in which we had mentioned that as photographs of the missing children were not available with their parents, if all the children could be sent to schools as mandated by Article 21-A of the Constitution and their photographs could be taken in the schools, then if any child went missing, his photograph could be made available for display on television or in newspapers and that would provide considerable help in rescuing the missing child. We think that as a budget of about 12.17 crore has been earmarked for maintaining periodically updated digitalized photographs of the missing child, it would be well worth considering by the government to create a computerized data bank of all school going children of the age group of 6-14 years and if possible to even put up the data on the internet, which could include inter alia a) the digitalized photograph of the child, b) the class in which he is studying, c) the name of his school and place of schooling. The information could further be upgraded every year to indicate d) whether the child was promoted at the end of the year, e) whether he has dropped out from the school and in the event of change of school or location, f) what is his new school and location. The principals of each school in each district could be made responsible for feeding all this data on the computer. This data on the internet could be made openly accessible, so that the claims of the child actually attending a particular school could be readily verified by concerned civil society groups, and individuals and government functionaries. We would like the response of the Principal Secretary (Primary Education), U.P. and the Chief Secretary on the feasibility of these suggestions of the Court. In our opinion preparing software for creating such a data bank of all the school going children of 6-14 years, may not be such a difficult exercise as may be felt at present, if we are able to enlist the support of some public spirited organizations such as the Infosys, or Wipro's Azim Bhai Premji, or the Bill Gates Foundations or even some search engines such as Yahoo or Google, who may perhaps be requested to contribute or develop soft ware for this noble mission, if the State Government decides to adopt this suggestion of the Court. These large organizations could also perhaps be requested to contribute towards providing computers and web connectivity in all schools or in some leading schools in the districts, where such data could be uploaded and updated. The State government may contact these organizations and provide feed back to the Court as to their response on the next date of listing. If such data is available universally on the click of a mouse, it would both help in checking and preventing any child from going missing and also simultaneously help in improving the quality of schooling and for ensuring that every child of the relevant age group of 6-14 years is attending school. NGOs, Panchayats, local bodies and other concerned actors could even verify whether information that may be put on the net conforms with the reality on the ground and if it becomes evident that in any particular school in an area a large number of children are not being promoted or are dropping out or changing their locations, then measures could be initiated for improving of the quality of education and addressing the causes, which have given rise to these problems. It could also help in unearthing the reported malpractice of the child being actually shown as enrolled in a particular government school, and claiming the benefits of scholarships and mid-day meals etc. there whereas he is actually studying in some private school (resulting in diversion of funds meant for scholarships and mid-day meals etc). It should be pointed out that the websites such as Yahoo or Google are much more user friendly and accessible to the public than the government website provided by NIC or UPDESCO. Even in the present case we find that on most occasions we are unable to access or open the relevant police website on missing children when we seek to access it. The concerned department maintaining the web site is, therefore, directed to improve the quality of the website and to ensure that they constantly upgrade their data base. We are also aware that in the UK a website on the same lines that we are suggesting containing "Statutory guidance for local authorities in England to identify children not receiving primary education" has been set up by the DFES in February, 2007 under the heading www.dfes.gub.uk.schoolattendance. In the present writ petition also a note of the Union Ministry, Women and Child Development dated 7.2.07 was filed mentioning that the Ministry was working on intra state and inter state National web site for missing children with the help of UNICEF, under their Integrated Child Protection Scheme. In our order dated 22.3.07 it is noted that Sri K.C. Sinha, that the learned Assistant Solicitor General had furnished information in response to a Court query that the said nation wide web site for missing children was likely to be operational by June 2007. But it appears that for some unknown reason the operationalization of the said web site has been delayed. We had even directed the U.P. State government to hyper-link its web site on missing children (which was being set up as per directions in this case) with this National web site being developed by the Ministry of Women and Child's Development, UNICEF and other parties. We direct the Additional Solicitor General to now furnish information about the progress in setting up the aforesaid nation level web site, including the reasons for the delay in its operationalization on the next date of listing. The intervenor NGO Don Bosco has developed a website in collaboration with UNICEF and Government of Indian which has two components, a Home Link website, which contains information of 107000 children unaccompanied by parents or guardians found in children's homes maintained by the government or private parties, street children and other unaccompanied across the country for which the site address is www.homelink.in and another web address www.missing childsearch.net. containing information about missing children. The reason for setting up the two web sites is that if data including photographs of a missing child are reported, it would be possible to check the data present on the Home link web site for enquiring whether the child is present in any of the homes for unaccompanied children or at any other place mentioned in the web site for unaccompanied children. As the State government has so far only set up a web site for missing children in pursuance of our orders under the address www.uppolice.up.nic.in.or up.missingpersons.in we think that the State Government should emulate the example of this NGO and consider setting up such a data bank for such unaccompanied children, by obtaining information from children's shelter homes (public or private), information on street children or trafficked children from NGOs such as Pratham, Childline, or even from the Labour department in cases where they come across children engaged in occupations involving child labour whose parents are not traceable and who may or may not be studying in NCLP (National Child Labour Project) Schools, or from any other sources which may have information of such unaccompanied children. The State government should also interconnect and hyper-link its existing web site on missing children with the Home link and other web sites set up by the NGO Don Bosco and other parties, and we have already directed that the State web site be linked with the nation level web site to be set up by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in co-ordination with UNICEF., as the government would then be in a position to verify whether any of the children who have gone missing are present in any other website containing a data bank of unaccompanied children. At present the government and especially the police have been insisting that information about missing children can only be loaded by the police on to the website. Our anxiety is that this may become a highly cumbersome and long drawn procedure, if the police verifies in each case whether the alleged child is actually missing or not, and the web site may become bereft of valuable data which ought to be quickly uploaded so as to give notice that a child has gone missing for expediting his/her search. Perhaps it would be possible to create a more open source soft ware and to at least entrust some responsible NGOs or principals or other authorities who could also be given a code number for loading information about missing children on to the web site and be held answerable and accountable for the same, so that the date base bank of the missing children and persons could be suitably enriched. The police department and Principal Secretary (Home), U.P. may submit their report on the feasibility of this suggestion by the Court on the next date. An affidavit has also been filed by the Deputy Labour Commissioner in the office of the Labour Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh, Kanpur, on behalf of the Principal Secretary (Labour) which mentions that the reasons sought by us in the last order dated 28.3.08 for non-rehabilitation of 10810 child labourers was that 5711 of the said child labourers have migrated to other states. Incomplete addresses or lack of addresses were mentioned in the survey forms/inspection notes in 2386 cases. In 1580 cases children have crossed the age of 14 years and in 1133 cases the children were not willing to join the mainstream of education. A circular letter dated 10.4.2008 has been issued by the Labour Commissioner, U.P. to all the Regional Additional/Deputy Commissioners for putting children in schools from hazardous and non-hazardous occupations and for sending reports in this regard every month. We are a little disappointed with these explanations. It appears that the labour inspectors conducting the raids and surveys seem to be acting not on account of their own convictions, but because of directions from above, and the effort was to engage in a number game and to be content with displaying the total number of raids. There was no sincere urge that the child found engaged in hazardous or non-hazardous child labour be rescued and rehabilitated. It is for this reason that such a large number of children were not provided with the rehabilitation allowances and the labour department has complacently recorded that 5711 children have disappeared/ migrated to their home areas. It was for this reason that the raiding inspector or staff did not even bother to note the correct addresses of such a large number of child workers. Also we are of the opinion that if only a raid is conducted, and the employer is to be prosecuted, the employee for whom this occupation in some cases may be the only means for quelling his hunger, may not share the philosophy of the raiding department. If after the raid, the District Magistrates and all other concerned departments, such as the education department could be involved to ensure that the ex-child worker is put in a proper school, where he is even given extra coaching to enable him to learn something, so that he is not left behind in class on account of being engaged in child labour, given mid-day meals and other facilities, and his parent is also provided with some employment, (if unemployed or underemployed), then this figure of so many child workers having disappeared and not seeking rehabilitation would not have arisen. We also feel that in some cases the identified child labour may leave the earlier work site and then get involved in working in a process where the conditions of employment may be even harsher and more oppressive than his previous work place, and the only person who may have gained in some cases may have been the raiding inspector who may have agreed to botch up a case by not noting the address or noting a wrong address of the employee, or by deliberately not getting the child's age assessed by the CMO or other competent registered medical practitioner as provided under the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act for some extraneous consideration! Contrast this approach of passing the buck, and furnishing of lame explanations, which is the hallmark of a person or agency who does not believe in the cause it is espousing, with the advise given by Madhav Chauhan, the head of the NGO "Pratham" (in Annexure II of the Principal Secretary (Primary Education's) affidavit) that what is required for bringing about universalization of education and provision of genuine learning is close planning, monitoring, and consistent efforts in such matters. Whereas what we usually see in government efforts are routine inflation of the number of achievements (which are not substantiated at the ground level), and have been carried out only in response to directives from higher authorities or Courts to which the functionary entrusted with the task is not at all committed, and there is no convergence of efforts with all concerned departments. We therefore hope and trust that the Principal Secretary (Labour), U.P. and the Chief Secretary shall issue suitable directions or Government Orders requiring convergence of efforts by district level authorities headed by the DMs, when cases of impermissible child labour or bonded labour are brought to light by the labour department, co-ordination with the education department to see that the child released from child labour goes to a school where there is proper opportunity for learning, mid-day meals are provided in the schools and that some employment is provided for the parents under government or other schemes to reduce hunger in the family, because launching prosecutions to the exclusion of other measures may only prove counter-productive. An affidavit has also been filed by the Deputy Chief Probation Officer, Women and Child Development on behalf of the Principal Secretary, Women and Child, which mentions that the State Government has allocated Rs. 324.64 lakhs in the financial year 2007-08 and has released a sum of Rs. 187.12 lakhs for the welfare of the children, who are residing in the Bal Grih Balaks and Bal Grih Balikas run by the State Government as well as by different NGOs. The State Government vide Government Order dated 17.3.2008 has decided to establish Observation Homes for boys and girls at Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Devi Patan Mandal and for the construction of the said establishments, the State Government has earmarked a sum of Rs. 22 lakhs, out of which 15.56 lakhs has been released. The State Government has also taken a decision that Observation Homes (boys) should be established in Sitapur and Shahjahanpur districts and in this connection the Government has sanctioned Rs. 4.61 lakhs. Funds have also been earmarked for the rehabilitation and providing legal aid to the children who are behind bars in connection with certain criminal offences. We are still not informed about the time frame by which the institutions and homes which are required to be set up in all the districts under the Juvenile Justice Act such as juvenile justice boards, different classes of government children's homes for children in conflict with the law, and in need of care and protection, child welfare committees etc. will actually be set up. We have also not been informed about the impediments in constituting these institutions and children's homes. No information has been furnished when the Commission for Protection of Child Right will be constituted in the State of U.P. We expect better particulars on these matters on the next date of listing from the Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development. |
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On the previous occasion, as noted in our order dated 28.3.2008, the State Government had pointed out that steps have been taken for setting up public display systems, but no further information about the setting up of public display systems has been mentioned in any of the affidavits filed on the present date of hearing. Shri Jagriti Singh, an advocate and intervener, has however provided an Annexure to an application filed by him today, which indicates that the said public display systems could be prepared at a lower cost, than suggested in the government's earlier affidavit mentioned in the order dated 28.3.2008. The State Government may consider whether they could also reduce their costs of setting up the public display system on lines suggested by the intervenor Sri Jagriti Singh or consider the feasibility of handing over the task for preparation of the public display systems to the organization of the intervener in case there are cost impediments in setting up the public display system, and submit a progress report in the matter on the next date of listing. |
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Shri Sanjiv Singh, an advocate and another intervener had appeared for the group which has conducted a survey in the matter of distribution of mid day meal in three blocks/tehsils of Allahabad, namely, Shankergarh, Soraon and Koraon and it appears that the copy of the application was not forwarded to the District Magistrate, Allahabad whose comments were called for on the impleadment application, moved during the last hearing on 28.3.08. Learned AGA states that he has not got the copy of the application. We have directed the intervenor to furnish him with the same. We hope that the registry and the learned AGA shall obtain the comments of the District Magistrate, Allahabad on the impleadment application and annexures therein dated 22.1.08 submitted by the intervenor about the sample survey conducted by them regarding distribution of mid day meals as hunger is another cause for children dropping out of schools and their consequential disappearance from their homes in search of employment or their falling prey in the hands of child traffickers. Mid day meals as has been indicated in the affidavit filed on behalf of the Principal Secretary has now been mandated for all primary and upper primary schools in U.P. Therefore, the District Magistrate Allahabad is expected to take notice of the shortcomings pointed out by the intervener and to submit a progress report on the next date of listing.
Shri D.K. Singh, Joint Registrar, Allahabad High Court has submitted a
compliance report pointing out that information has been received from 28
districts by filling up the data and tables prescribed, regarding the
functioning of the legal aid societies and the assistance that has been given to
the cells relating to missing children in the districts and the problem that
they face, but data from 23 districts is still awaited. We direct the District
Judges concerned who have not furnished the said data yet, to communicate the
same to this Court at the earliest. We also hope that all District Judges will
continue to provide progress reports in regard to these matters on each date of
listing, without repeating information already furnished as directed in our
order dated 28.3.08, and the furnishing of the required data shall not be a one
time function. We are happy to note that with the arrival of the new Member Secretary Shri Sudhir Kumar Saxena, there appears to be a sea change in the approach of the Legal Services Authority. So far, we had been repeatedly expressing our displeasure in various orders regarding the inert and indifferent role being played by the Legal Services Authority, which we expected to play a pro-active role in this matter and were unhappy with his approach of simply informing this Court about the provisions of the Legal Services Authority Act. However, Shri Sudhir Kumar Saxena, after taking over as the Member Secretary of the U.P. Legal Services Authority, has sent a compliance report dated 15.5.2007 stating that he has also sent a letter to the Secretary, Women and Child Development, Government of U.P. to communicate the present status of setting up of the website for missing children, but no response has yet been received. There was also no response to the letter sent to the Under Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Women and Child Development to furnish the information about the setting up of a national website. So far as the setting up of website of missing children is concerned, we may inform the Member Secretary that the said website has already been set up by the UP police as indicated hereinabove. The Member Secretary has also sent a letter on 25.4.2008 to all the District Judges/Chairmen of the District Legal Services Authority to send progress reports through fax regarding the matters relating to missing children. They were also asked to give wide publicity about the missing children on All India Radio and Television and in case of any problem they were directed to contact the office of the State Legal Services Authority for necessary support. They were also asked to inform the public at large regarding constitution of the cells for missing children through literacy camps and to submit a report by the fifth of the next month. The Directors, Information U.P. AIR, Lucknow and Doordarshan, Lucknow were required to display and distribute pamphlets prepared by the State Legal Services Authority, regarding the constitution of the cells, nomination of advocates by the District Judges, to impart free legal aid services to parents of missing children. The Deputy Secretary of the Legal Services Authority made a visit to Rajkiya Shishu Bal Grah and submitted a detailed report and the Chief Secretary, Government of U.P. has been requested to direct all the administrative officers of the state that they should inform the public at large about the constitution of the cells of missing children in the Tehsil Divas which is organized in Tehsil Headquarters regularly. We direct the said authorities to comply with these directions issued by the Member Secretary, U.P. Legal Services Authority. We also direct the Chief Secretary to comply with these requests.
An advertisement was published in Times of Indian and Daily Hindustan informing
people about missing children's cells and activities of the U.P. State Legal
Services Authority. The officers of the State Legal Services Authority met the
Social Welfare Commissioner and the Principal Secretary, Women and Child
Development for extending cooperation in the activities of State Authority for
tracing out the children from shelter homes and to ensure their proper upkeep.
We are now highly satisfied with the functioning of the U.P. Legal Services Authority and consider the intervention by the new Member Secretary to be an effective and genuine compliance of the orders of this Court on this most humane issue and we hope that the Member Secretary and Secretary Legal Services Authority will continue with this good work in future and play a nodal role in the matter and ensure compliance with the Court's directions in letter and spirit and give no cause for disapproval by this Court. The Member Secretary has rightly observed that this petition has proceeded merely beyond being a case and has become a cause or a movement. We think that it is only in that sensitized missionary spirit and co-operation by all the concerned parties and persons that this heart rending issue of missing children, and all the wider ramifications that we have been touching in this writ by means of continuous mandamuses may be addressed, so that we may be able to safeguard the present and future of the most precious resource of our nation - our children. Summary of directions: 1.It is directed that the police and other authorities continue their efforts with utmost sincerity to recover the remaining 1694 still missing children and other missing children about whom there may be subsequent reports and continue to submit the updated position of missing children and the number of children rescued on the next and subsequent dates of listing of this petition. Special attention should be paid to recovering the missing girl child of very young age.
2.We urge the police and other authorities and civil society groups not to
indulge in mutual recriminations and to engage in a sincere, and co-operative
endeavour, with transparent sharing of information for rescuing the missing
child as missing children can not be found by police actions alone, but require
the co-operation of the entire civil society and other concerned persons and
groups. The learned AGA is directed to furnish copies of counter affidavits and
other documents with the State in case it is sought by the intervening NGOs so
that they may verify the correctness of the information furnished and give other
fruitful suggestions to the Court as to how the process of recovering missing
children and other related matters can be carried out further. 4.We also direct the Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary (Primary Education) to provide a role to parents, concerned NGO's and Civil Society groups, local bodies and individuals for enforcing the said G.O.s and for monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching and other activities in the schools including the provision of mid day meals and to take action against the defaulters also when complaints are received from these parties and to submit a compliance report on the steps taken for enhancing the involvement of these groups and individuals on the next date. The Court would also appreciate if such civil society groups come forward for conducting social audits and for monitoring whether the State's promised provisions and claims are being implemented in reality and provide feed back to the Court in these matters. 5.On the next date the Principal Secretary (Primary Education), U.P. may indicate as to what concrete steps have been taken for improving teachers training and for improving the quality of teaching in the schools, and whether apart from carrying out a certain number of training programmes, there has been any effort to evaluate the outcomes of such training programmes. 6.We would like the response from the Principal Secretary (Primary Education), U.P. and the Chief Secretary as to the feasibility of the suggestion of the Court to set up a computerized data bank of all school going children of the age group of 6-14 years (and if possible to even put up the data on the internet), which could inter alia include a) the digitalized photographs of the child (for which purpose a budget of 12.7 crore has been earmarked in the years 2007-2008 vide G.O. dated 19.3.08 and a budget for Rs. 5 crore is earmarked for 2008-2009), b) the class in which the child is studying, c) the name of his school d) and place of schooling. This information could further be upgraded every year to indicate e) whether the child was promoted at the end of the year, f) whether he/she has dropped out from the school and in the event of change of school or location, g) what is his new school and location. The Principals or other authorities can be imposed the duty of ensuring that the data with respect to each child is loaded on the computer. This data, if on the internet, could be made openly accessible, so that the claims of the child actually attending a particular school could be readily verified by concerned civil society groups, individuals and government functionaries, who may also suggest measures for improving the functioning of the school, in case large number of drop outs or failures in particular classes are reported. 7. It is also suggested that the government or other concerned parties strive to enlist the support of some public spirited organizations such as the Infosys, or Wipro's Azim Bhai Premji, or the Bill Gates Foundations or even some search engines such as Yahoo or Google, who may perhaps be requested to help in developing soft ware for uploading this information on computers and also for providing net connectivity if the Court's suggestion in this regard is accepted by the State Government. These organizations could also be requested to share the burden for providing computers with web connectivity at all schools or at lead schools, as their contribution to a pious social cause. The State government is directed to contact these organizations and to submit their responses to the Court's suggestions on the next date. 8.As the existing police web site of missing children, is usually not accessible, as there is usually some problem with their server, the concerned department maintaining the web site is directed to improve the quality of the website and to ensure constant updating of their data base. 9.On the next date of listing we direct the Additional Solicitor General or Asst. Solicitor General to furnish information about the progress in setting up the nation level web site by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with UNICEF and other parties which was slated to have become operational by June 2007 and the reasons for the delay. 10. We suggest that similar to the example of the intervenor "Don Bosco," the State Government should in addition to its existing web site on missing children, also consider setting up a web site containing a data bank for children unaccompanied by parents and guardians, by obtaining information of such children from children's shelter homes (public or private), information about street children or trafficked children form NGOs such as "Pratham", "Childline", or even from the Labour department in cases where they come across children engaged in occupations involving child labour whose parents are not traceable and who may or may not be studying in NCLP (National Child Labour Project) Schools, or from any other sources which may have information of such unaccompanied children, on which site searches can be made for the reported missing children.
11.The State government should also interconnect and hyper-link its existing web
site on missing children with the Home link and other web sites set up (or to be
set up) by the Central government with the aid of UNICEF, the NGO Don Bosco, and
other web sites on this matter. 13. We also desire that the Principal Secretary (Labour), U.P. and the Chief Secretary issue suitable directions or Government Orders requiring convergence of efforts by district level authorities headed by the DMs, when cases of impermissible child labour or bonded labour are brought to light by the labour department, co-ordination with the education department to see that the child released from child labour goes to a school where there is proper opportunity for learning, mid-day meals are provided in the schools and that some employment is provided for the parents under government or other schemes to reduce hunger in the family, because launching prosecutions to the exclusion of other measures may only prove counter-productive. Let a compliance report be submitted on this direction on the next date of listing. 14.On the next date of listing we direct the Chief Secretary, U.P. and the Principal Secretary (Women and Child Development) to furnish us with details about the time frame by which the institutions and homes which are required to be set up in all the districts under the Juvenile Justice Act (as Amended in 2006) such as juvenile justice boards, different classes of government children's homes for children in conflict with the law, and in need of care and protection, child welfare committees etc. will actually be set up, and the impediments in setting up the same 15. We would also like a response from the Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary, (Women and Child Development), U.P. when the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights is likely to be set up. |
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16. The State Government is directed to submit on the next date of listing the progress report regarding setting up of public display systems showing missing children etc. in public places such as railways and bus stations etc. in each district, steps for setting up which were pointed out to us on the last date as noted in our order dated 28.3.08, and the State should could consider the feasibility of reducing costs as suggested by the intervenor Jagriti Singh, or alternatively for handing over the work to his organization, if cost factors are impeding the setting up of such public display systems. |
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17.We direct the Distrit Magistrate, Allahabad to submit comments on the
impleadment application and annexures dated 22.1.08 submitted by the intervenor
Sanjeev Singh, Advocate and his organization on a sample survey regarding the
functioning of the mid day meal scheme in three blocks/tahsils of Allahabad,
viz., Soraon, Koraon, and Shankargarh and to take steps and submit progress
report on remedying the defects if the survey findings are found correct, as
hunger is another cause for children dropping out of schools and their
consequential disappearance from their homes in search of employment and the
State government has now mandated provision of mid day meals to all children in
the 6-14 year age bracket in government and aided primary and upper primary
schools. |