Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

SC Asks NCPCR to Involve NGOs and Activists To Identify Street Children

Senior Advocate, Salman Khurshid appearing on behalf of Amod K. Kanth, General Secretary, Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre, urged that the civil society and NGOs are to be kept in contact so that they can help in data collection.
April 19, 2022
NCPCR

The Supreme Court asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to include NGOs and people working in the field of children’s rights in the process of identifying street children in the nation.

Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice  B.R. Gavai further asked if these organisations could access the Bal Swaraj portal established by the NCPCR.

Senior Advocate, Salman Khurshid appearing on behalf of Amod K. Kanth, General Secretary, Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre, urged that “The civil society sector, the NGO sector, they are to be kept in contact so that they can help in the collection of data.”

Lawyer Swarupama Chaturvedi, representing the NCPCR, told the court that the Supreme Court had already ordered NGOs to join state governments.

Additional Attorney General K.M. Nataraj informed the court that he was considering seeking help from law schools to identify child care facilities.

Amicus Curiae told the Gaurav Agarwal Bench that at a previous event he had ordered states to formulate a policy for the rehabilitation of child care agencies.

Chief lawyer Salman Khurshid has asked the Supreme Court to involve civil society in identifying street children. The apex court said that it has been monitoring this for almost one and a half years, but the progress has not been satisfactory.

The bench said the NCPCR should enlist the help of people or organisations that are willing to identify the children.