Source: https://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/judgments/announcement.php?WID=8864
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 13:09:35+00:00

Document:
Re: Exploitation of Children in Orphanages in the State of Tamil Nadu Vs. Union of India & Ors.
1. This writ petition was taken up on the basis of an article published in the Hindi newspaper "Hindustan" (Lucknow Edition) on 4thJuly, 2007. The article was written by Ms. Anjali Sinha and the translated caption of the article is "Orphanage or Places for Child Abuse". The article was forwarded to this Court by one A.S. Choudhury along with a letter and that is the genesis of this petition which was registered as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on 10th September, 2007. Ms. Aparna Bhat was appointed as Amicus Curiae to assist this Court. At the outset we must and do acknowledge the unstinting and excellent efforts put in by Ms. Aparna Bhat over the last 10 years in rendering assistance in this matter.
10. On 20thMarch, 2015 this Court raised the need for a social audit in terms of Rule 64 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2007 and the utilization of funds given to the States and Union Territories under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme.
11. On 17thApril, 2015 this Court raised the issue of a concurrent monitoring audit under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme as well as the establishment of Juvenile Justice Boards, Child Welfare Committees, Special Juvenile Police Units, functioning of Child Care Institutions and functioning of adoption agencies.
12. On 31stJuly, 2015 at the instance of the learned Amicus, the issue of formulating Child Care Plans was discussed in addition to laying down a policy for conducting social audits. On 28th August, 2015, the issue of vacancies in the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights was raised by this Court. On 30thOctober, 2015 the format for social audits was discussed, in the context of finalizing something workable and pragmatic.
13. Since it appeared that there was a lack of seriousness and more tragically a lack of empathy towards the well being and welfare of children amongst some of the States and Union Territories and complete apathy with respect to the disturbingly increasing instances of child sexual abuse, often by someone in a position of authority and ineffective implementation of the laws passed by Parliament virtually making parliamentary legislation irrelevant, we heard detailed submissions of all the parties with the intention of passing appropriate directions so as to ensure the meaningful implementation of the statutes already enacted by Parliament.
It must be appreciated that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 is a medium for the State to honour the Directive Principles of State Policy particularly under Article 39(f) of the Constitution by giving opportunities to children to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. Indeed, though the Directive Principles of State Policy are fundamental to the governance of the country, they are not enforceable However, as held in Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, once a directive principle is enforced through law the State must be obligated to enforce the statute to uphold its constitutional obligation.
We do not propose to consider the plight of trafficked or street children, since that would mean losing focus on the issues raised by Ms. Anjali Sinha. We leave open the issues of trafficked children and street children for consideration in an appropriate case.
17. Who is a child in need of care and protection? The provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short the 'POCSO Act') do not provide any definition of a child in need of care and protection. But no one can deny that a child victim of sexual abuse or sexual assault or sexual harassment is a child in need of care and protection. Similarly in a given case,a child accused of an offence and brought before the Juvenile Justice Board or any other authority might also be a child in need of care and protection.
19. In Workmen v. Management of American Express International Banking Corporation this Court held in paragraph 4 of the Report that: "The principles of statutory construction are well settled. Words occurring in statutes of liberal import such as social welfare legislation and human rights' legislation are not to be put in Procrustean beds or shrunk to Liliputian dimensions. In construing these legislations the imposture of literal construction must be avoided and the prodigality of its misapplication must be recognised and reduced."
20. A similar view was expressed in Regional Director, ESI Corporation. v. Francis De Costa when it was observed that "It is settled law that to prevent injustice or to promote justice and to effectuate the object and purpose of the welfare legislation, broad interpretation should be given, even if it requires a departure from literal construction."
21. The necessity of giving a purposeful interpretation to a provision in a statute was recognized in MSR Leathers v. S. Palaniappan when this Court observed that: ".....one of the salutary principles of interpretation of statutes is to adopt an interpretation which promotes and advances the object sought to be achieved by the legislation, in preference to an interpretation which defeats such object. This Court has in a long line of decisions recognised purposive interpretation as a sound principle for the courts to adopt while interpreting statutory provisions." A similar view was expressed, though in a different context, in Badshah v. Urmila Badshah Godse. A far more detailed discussion on the subject is to be found in the Constitution Bench decision of this Court in Abhiram Singh v. C.D. Commachen.
22. Read in this light, the definition of a child in need of care and protection given in Section 2(14) of the JJ Act should be given a broad and purposeful interpretation - it ought not to be treated as exhaustive but illustrative and furthering the requirements of social justice. This understanding would also be in consonance with Article 40 of the CRC which stipulates that the "State Parties shall recognize rights of every child accused of an offence and treatment of such a child shall be in a manner consistent with promotion of the child's dignity and worth".
26. Apart from their registration, the statute requires quite a few salutary actions to be taken by such institutions including recording the residential capacity and purpose of the child care institution. Rule 21 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as the Model Rules) specifies the manner of registration of child care institutions and provides, inter alia, the availability of the bye-laws and memorandum of association, office bearers etc. of such institutions. The State Government is obligated to consider an application for registration of a child care institution (in Form 27) in light of aspects like whether provision exists for the care and protection of children, their health, education, boarding and lodging facilities, vocational studies and rehabilitation (among others things).
It is only then that a certificate of registration can be issued. The State Government is also obligated to conduct an inspection of an applicant institution and it appears to us that if such an inspection is faithfully and sincerely carried out, it will reveal the dark underbelly, if any, of a dubious child care institution such as those referred to by Ms. Anjali Sinha. The strict implementation of the provisions of the JJ Act will go a long way in making the life of children in such child care institutions safer and far more comfortable than it has been and also reduce the possibility of crimes such as trafficking, sexual abuse or sexual assault or sexual harassment of children. If the registration of child care institutions is not complete, their management obviously cannot be supervised.
Therefore, a misstep in the very first stage could have a chain reaction and perhaps disastrous consequences in some cases as is evident from the incidents of child abuse in institutions as brought out by Ms. Anjali Sinha.
27. Article 3 of the CRC mandates that all actions concerning children undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies shall have the best interest of the children as a primary consideration.
1. Article 3(3) of the CRC specifically obligates the State Parties to ensure that institutions responsible for care and protection of children shall conform to standards laid down by competent authorities, particularly in areas of safety, health, staff and supervision. However, the minimum standards of care prescribed for institutions cannot be ensured if the child care institution is not identified and registered.
(3) damage, which is both causally connected with such breach and recognized by the law, has been suffered by the complainant. Effectively therefore, if the officers of the State do not ensure that minimum standards of care are followed in the child care institutions, they could well be guilty of negligence. Since ours is a welfare State it would be difficult for uncaring officers to absolve themselves of a charge of negligence and also perhaps of a violation of the human rights of children.
* States have not submitted their Statement of Expenditure (SOE) We are told that the same situation continued for subsequent years as well.
35. Parliament has, of course, appreciated the need for protecting the rights of children in many of the ways that we have mentioned above and that is why the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 was enacted. In fact the Preamble to the said Act is extremely significant and brings into focus not only the necessity of protecting the rights of children generally but also as a part of our obligations to the international community. The Preamble to the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as 'the CPCR Act') reads as follows: "An Act to provide for the constitution of a National Commission and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights and Children's Courts for providing speedy trial of offences against children or of violation of child rights and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
AND WHEREAS it is expedient to enact a law relating to children to give effect to the policies adopted by the Government in this regard, standards prescribed in the CRC, and all other relevant international instruments;"
36. To fulfill the obligations to children, the CPCR Act provides for the constitution of a National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (for short 'the NCPCR') and for the constitution of State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (for short 'the SCPCR'). These Commissions are intended to function under the provisions of the CPCR Act and their vast range of functions has been delineated in Section 13 as well as in Section 24 of the CPCR Act.
37. It was pointed out by the learned Amicus that the NCPCR and the SCPCR can play a very crucial role in fostering child rights. This deserves to be recognized, but is unfortunately overlooked both by the Union Government as well as by the State Governments. She pointed out that there are a large number of vacancies in many of these bodies and in fact the NCPCR was, at one time, without any Chairperson for more than a year. Some of the State Governments have also not bothered to fill up the vacancies in the SCPCR and some others have used the SCPCR as a sinecure for some favourites.
This again, as pointed out, is nothing but providing lip service to the provisions of a parliamentary legislation and not giving serious attention to the constitutional rights of children. This is certainly not acceptable.
(1) The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights constituted under Section 3, or as the case may be, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights constituted under Section 17, of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 (4 of 2006), shall, in addition to the functions assigned to them under that Act, also monitor the implementation of the provisions of this Act in such manner as may be prescribed.
(3) The National Commission or, as the case may be, the State Commission, referred to in sub-section (1), shall, also include, its activities under this section, in the annual report referred to in Section 16 of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 (4 of 2006)."
43. With regard to the future of children in need of care and protection, the JJ Act contains obligatory provisions such as Section 53 which deals with rehabilitation and social re-integration services in child care institutions. This provision requires the State to take care of the basic requirements of children in such institutions including children with special needs, legal aid where required and more importantly assistance in obtaining proof of identity. There have been instances brought to our notice where children;particularly in the case of abandoned children, are unable to give any information about their parentage or permanent address etc. In such cases, proof of identify is crucial for the welfare of the child, otherwise he or she is reduced to a mere statistic.
44. The provision for rehabilitation and re-integration services has several facets and cannot be read in isolation but must be read, inter alia, in conjunction with Section 54 of the JJ Act which requires the inspection of child care institutions registered under the said Act. Inspection Committees are required to be set up which shall mandatorily visit all facilities housing children in the area allocated, at least once in three months in a team of not less than three members, of whom at least one shall be a woman and one shall be a medical officer.
Their Inspection Reports are required to be furnished to the District Child Protection Unit or the State Government, as the case may be, for further action. Form 46 of the Model Rules prepared under Rule 41 thereof is quite exhaustive and if the Form is filled up with due seriousness it will go a long way in improving the living conditions of children in child care institutions.
46. Unfortunately, one of the problems faced in introducing restorative justice is that a child in a child care institution is treated as a number and no effort is made to introduce any individual child care plan postulated by Rule 19 of the Model Rules read with Form 7. Learned Amicus informed us that the Form is very rarely filled up (if at all) and little or no attention is paid to the needs of each child including a child in conflict with law.
She submitted that specific directions should be given for the preparation of individual child care plans in every child care institution since that is really the heart of rehabilitation and social re- integration of a child in need of care and protection. Of course, some expertise is involved in this exercise but as we had mentioned earlier, there is no shortage of manpower in our country and it is only the will of the State Governments, Union Territories and the Union Government which is coming in the way of the effective implementation of the provisions of the JJ Act, Model Rules and filling up various Forms and their analysis.
47. One of the more important issues raised by the learned Amicus in the context of rehabilitation and social re-integration is to be found in Rule 89 of the Model Rules which concerns itself with training of personnel dealing with children. This rule provides for a minimum period of 15 days training to various categories of personnel under the JJ Act including the staff of Children's Courts, Principal Magistrates and Members of Juvenile Justice Boards, Chairpersons and Members of Child Welfare Committees, Police Officers including persons in charge of child care institutions etc.
Rule 89 of the Model Rules also postulates that the Judicial Academy and the Police Academy in the States as well as the State Legal Services Authorities prepare appropriate training modules, training manuals and provide training to personnel. It was pointed out by the learned Amicus that this rule is being followed more in the breach and there is hardly any Judicial Academy or Police Academy or State Legal Services Authority which conducts 15 days training programmes. This is quite unfortunate to say the least.
49. In the context of rehabilitation and social re-integration, it was submitted before us that institutionalization of children is not necessarily the only available option. This submission of the learned Amicus also finds support in Article 20 of the CRC. The Article obligates the State Parties to provide special protection and assistance to children temporarily or permanently deprived of family environment.
The Article illustrates alternate care in the form of foster placement, adoption "or if necessary placement in suitable institution". It is clear that the first option exercised by the authorities should not be institutionalization of a child in need of care and protection and the same is a measure of the last resort. Article 40(4) of the CRC pertaining to children accused of violating the law also states that the State Parties shall ensure "care, guidance, supervision, counseling, probation, foster care, education and vocational training and other alternatives to institutional care".
Indeed, in keeping with the spirit of the CRC, the JJ Act itself encourages alternatives to institutionalization such as adoption (Chapter VIII), foster care (Section 44) and Sponsorship (Section 45). This too needs some serious thought, as submitted by the learned Amicus.
52. That the judiciary is not far behind in fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities is obvious from the fact that the rather slack implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 even after four years of its enactment, compelled the Chief Justice of India to request all the High Courts to set up a Juvenile Justice Committee to ensure effective implementation of the said Act and monitor the activities under the said Act.
The High Courts have a constitutional obligation to ensure that the rights of all citizens, including children, as guaranteed under the Constitution are preserved, protected and respected. With this in mind, all the High Courts have since set up a Juvenile Justice Committee consisting of Judges of the High Court and these Committees ensure that the provisions of the Act are implemented in letter and spirit. For better co-ordination on issues relating to children, some High Courts have also provided a Secretariat for the Juvenile Justice Committee.
53. With the passage of time, it has been realized that the importance of the Juvenile Justice Committee in the High Court cannot be overemphasized. It is time for all of us to now realize that judges are no longer required to remain in an ivory tower. Judges of all the Courts including the Constitutional Courts have non-judicial duties and obligations to perform so that the fundamental rights of the people are respected.
55. Social audit has gained relevance as a tool of public accountability. It has been defined as "an assessment of a department's non financial objectives through systematic and regular monitoring on the basis of the views of its stakeholders." A social audit is considered novel as it is supposed to serve as a supplement to a conventional Government Audit, often done in 12 month cycles generating an audit report every time. In fact, in the Report of the Task Group on Social Audit by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, it was opined that social audit be brought into the mainstream of auditing by the Indian Audit and Accounts Department as an essential process and tool in all the performance audits of social sector programmes as they afford an opportunity to strengthen the micro level scrutiny of the programme planning, implementation and monitoring.
62. In view of the above discussion, the following directions are issued: The definition of the expression "child in need of care and protection" under Section 2(14) of the JJ Act should not be interpreted as an exhaustive definition. The definition is illustrative and the benefits envisaged for children in need of care and protection should be extended to all such children in fact requiring State care and protection. The Union Government and the governments of the States and Union Territories must ensure that the process of registration of all child care institutions is completed positively by 31st December, 2017 with the entire data being confirmed and validated. The information should be available with all the concerned officials.
The registration process should also include a data base of all children in need of care and protection which should be updated every month. While maintaining the database, issues of confidentiality and privacy must be kept in mind by the concerned authorities. The Union Government and the governments of the States and Union Territories are directed to enforce the minimum standards of care as required by and in terms of the JJ Act and the Model Rules positively on or before 31st December, 2017. The governments of the States and Union Territories should draw up plans for full and proper utilization of grants (along with expenditure statements) given by the Union Government under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme.
Returning the grants as unspent or casual utilization of the grants will not ensure anybody's benefit and is effectively wasteful expenditure. It is imperative that the Union Government and the governments of the States and Union Territories must concentrate on rehabilitation and social re-integration of children in need of care and protection. There are several schemes of the Government of India including skill development, vocational training etc which must be taken advantage of keeping in mind the need to rehabilitate such children. The governments of the States and Union Territories are directed to set up Inspection Committees as required by the JJ Act and the Model Rules to conduct regular inspections of child care institutions and to prepare reports of such inspections so that the living conditions of children in these institutions undergo positive changes.
These Inspection Committees should be constituted on or before 31st July, 2017 and they should conduct the first inspection of the child care institutions in their jurisdiction and submit a report to the concerned government of the States and Union Territories on or before 31st December, 2017. The preparation of individual child care plans is extremely important and all governments of the States and Union Territories must ensure that there is a child care plan in place for every child in each child care institution. While this process may appear to be long drawn and cumbersome, its necessity cannot be underestimated in any circumstances.
The process of preparing individual child care plans is a continuing process and must be initiated immediately and an individual child care plan must be prepared for each child in each child care institutions on or before 31st December, 2017. Wherever the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has not been established or though established is not fully functional in the absence of a Chairperson or any one or more Members, the governments of the States and Union Territories must ensure that all vacancies are filled up with dedicated persons on or before 31st December, 2017. The SCPCRs so constituted must publish an Annual Report so that everyone is aware of their activities and can contribute individually or collectively for the benefit of children in need of care and protection.
The training of personnel as required by the JJ Act and the Model Rules is essential. There are an adequate number of academies that can take up this task including police academies and judicial academies in the States. There are also national level bodies that can assist in this process of training including bodies like the Bureau of Police Research and Training, the National Judicial Academy and others including established NGOs. Wherever possible training modules should be prepared at the earliest.
It is time that the governments of the States and Union Territories consider de-institutionalization as a viable alternative. It is not necessary that every child in need of care and protection must be placed in a child care institutions. Alternatives such as adoption and foster care need to be seriously considered by the concerned authorities.
The importance of social audits cannot be over-emphasized. The necessity of having a social audit has been felt in some statutes which have been mentioned above and also by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. That being the position, it is imperative that the process of conducting a social audit must be taken up in right earnestness by the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights as well as by each State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights. This is perhaps the best possible method by which transparency and accountability in the management and functioning of child care institutions and other bodies under the JJ Act and Model Rules can be monitored and supervised.
While the Juvenile Justice Committee in each High Court is performing its role in ensuring the implementation of the JJ Act and Model Rules, there is no doubt that each Committee will require a small Secretariat by way of assistance.
We request each Juvenile Justice Committee to seriously consider establishing a Secretariat for its assistance and we direct each State Government and Union Territory to render assistance to the Juvenile Justice Committee of each High Court and to cooperate and collaborate with the Juvenile Justice Committee in this regard. We acknowledge the contribution made by Ms. Aparna Bhat in taking keen interest in the issues raised in this PIL and for rendering effective assistance to this Court at all times. The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee will give an honorarium of Rs. 2 lakhs to Ms. Aparna Bhat out of the funds available for juvenile justice issues.
While there may be some other issues specifically concerning children in need of care and protection we leave these issues open for consideration and grant liberty to the learned Amicus to move an appropriate application in this regard including any application for modification or clarification of the directions given above.
The Union of India is directed to communicate our directions to the concerned Ministry or Department of each State and Union Territory for implementation and to collate necessary information regarding the implementation of these directions with the assistance of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights. A status report in this regard should be filed in this Court on or before 15thJanuary, 2018. The Registry will list this case immediately thereafter.
Social Audit: A Toolkit, A Guide for Performance Improvement and Outcome Measurement available at https://cgg.gov.in/publicationdownloads2a/Social%20Audit%20Toolkit%20Final.p df.

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