The Supreme Court, while addressing the issue of children who became orphan during COVID-19, directed the States and Union Territories to complete the process of identifying such children who have lost both or one parent during COVID without any further delay.
The court also directed the States and Union Territories to pace up the process by seeking assistance from several agencies working at the grass root level.
Further, the division bench ordered the District Magistrates to issue necessary directions to the Child Welfare and Protection Officers to seek help from police, Civil Society Organizations, Asha networks, Anganwadi, Gram Panchayats, and DCPU.
Moreover, the bench directed the DMs to continue uploading the information, as and when received, on the National Commission for Protection of Child Right’s Bal Swaraj Portal.
The streak of directions also clarified that the above-mentioned mechanism had been issued in addition to the one available under the Juvenile Justice Act.
The directions had been laid down in order to tackle the issue of education of orphans, and that State governments/ UTs permit the orphans to continue their education for the current academic year, be it private or public school.
The court also provided the option of accommodating the private school students, in case of difficulty, in other schools as reiterated under the Right to Education Act, and providing the information of such students as well.
These directions came in the light of delay in providing the information of children who lost both of their parents, or one of them. The State of West Bengal submitted the details of 27 children who lost their parents, to which the Supreme Court made oral remarks stating that it doesn’t believe the numbers placed before it by the authorities.
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