The Supreme Court ordered the NCPCR on Tuesday not to bring up the matter in court regarding a request for a special investigation team (SIT) to look into allegations of children being sold by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity shelter houses in Jharkhand.
A panel made up of Justices BV Nagarathna and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh dismissed the petition brought by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), denouncing the organization.
It stated that the requested remedy is too broad and ambiguous to be taken into consideration.
“Dont’ drag the Supreme Court into your agenda. What kind of relief is sought in your petition? How can we pass such directions? The petition is totally misconstrued,The plea is utterly misinterpreted,” the bench informed the lawyer arguing for the NCPCR.
Initially, the attorney stated that the petition directs a time-bound, Supreme Court-monitored examination of all these organizations in Jharkhand to guarantee kid safety.
According to the Supreme Court, the NCPCR was given authority under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005, to carry out investigations and take legal action. The petition was then denied by the bench.
The NCPCR in the case filed in 2020 had sought implementation of fundamental rights of prohibition of trafficking granted under Article 23 of the Constitution. It included them as parties to its petition after claiming that disparities had been discovered in children’s homes across several states.
“During the course of inquiry by petitioner (NCPCR), shocking revelations were made by victims which included the fact that the children were being sold from children homes. These facts were emphatically brought to the notice of the state government (Jharkhand) but continuous attempts were made to sabotage and derail the inquiry,” stated in the petition.
The petition claimed that the state’s officials had taken a callous stance when it came to protecting youngsters, citing instances of child rights violations in Jharkhand.