Court also directs Melattur police to provide security to children, family members
Court also directs Melattur police to provide security to children, family members
The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Malappuram, to release the two minor migrant girls, who were sexually assaulted after they left their home allegedly following a tiff with their mother, to the custody of their parents.
Justice V.G. Arun passed the order on a writ petition filed by the parents of the girls from Assam.
The court also directed the Melattur police to provide sufficient security to ensure that no harm is caused to the children or their family members.
The court observed that if the CWC decision to transfer the children to Assam was allowed to stand, two innocent children would be transferred to a distant land, far away from their parents. As per the report of District Child Protection Officer, none of the children’s relatives in Assam had offered to support them.
The court also directed the Director of the Women and Child Development Department to hold deliberations with the officials concerned to find out ways and means for providing free education to the children.
The court added that the State and its instrumentalities could not abdicate their responsibility of protecting the children from the perpetrators of the heinous crime. The court pointed out that Article 39 (f) required the State to ensure that children were given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner, and in conditions of freedom and dignity, and that childhood and youth were protected against exploitation, and against moral and material abandonment.
