The Delhi government assured the Delhi High Court Thursday that action as per law will be taken to rescue bonded child and adolescent labourers in the national capital while coordinating with various departments to tackle the issue.
The HC was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) highlighting the instances of bonded child and adolescent labour in the Capital.
The petitioner, Rohtas, who is stated to support the work of NGO ‘Sahyog Care For You’, sought direction to the authorities to conduct raids and rescue 245 children and 772 adolescents claiming that they were being forced to work as “bonded labourers”. Earlier this week, the HC had asked the government’s counsel to ensure that the petitioner meets with the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) headquarters.
During the hearing Thursday, the counsel for the petitioner submitted before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela that while the meeting did happen, however, no information was asked from them with respect to the addresses of the “rescue locations”. The petitioner’s counsel further sought that a timeline be fixed for taking action to carry out the rescue.
Meanwhile, standing counsel for the Delhi Government Santosh Kumar Tripathi said that in accordance with the last order, a meeting was arranged with the petitioner and the SDM headquarters, “however no actionable information was shared by the petitioner”. He said that in the absence of any “concrete information” and identifiable addresses, where the child labourers are claimed to be working, it would be very difficult to take any action.
The bench thereafter said, “After some arguments, it transpires that there is some amount of mistrust between the parties. To ensure that the cause canvassed by the petitioner does not suffer, this court directs the petitioner to share the actionable information in a sealed cover with Mr Tripathi during the course of the day. Mr Tripathi ensures and undertakes to this court that he shall coordinate with various departments and ensure that action in accordance with law is taken.”
The bench also said the petitioner’s counsel can directly coordinate with the Delhi government standing counsel to share information.
The HC thereafter called for a status report and listed the matter on July 29.
The petitioner had earlier said that 18 complaints had been sent to eight district magistrates (DMs) and 16 sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs). However, only three of them had responded.
It was also submitted that it had been over two months since the complaints were first sent and multiple reminders were also sent to the DMs and SDMs concerned. However, “no action has been taken yet”, said the petitioner, adding that the statutory timeline for undertaking action is not being met.
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