The Delhi High Court sought responses from Railways, Delhi Police, and Delhi government on a PIL raising child trafficking concerns at railway stations. The Bench warned, “Delhi has become a mandi,” urging urgent action after observations at key stations.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the Union Ministry of Railways, the Delhi Police and the Delhi government to respond to a public interest litigation that highlights concerns about child trafficking at railway stations.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia addressed the Delhi government’s standing counsel, saying,
“What are you doing? Delhi has become a mandi now for child trafficking. Just roam around at New Delhi Railway Station, Nizamuddin Railway Station for two hours, you can gather what is going there.”
The court observed that, despite earlier orders, child trafficking continues unabated, attributing the problem to poor implementation of existing measures and procedures.
The court said,
“It is common knowledge that such trafficking of children of tender age is rampant. The courts time and again have expressed their concerns and issued directions, however, the menace is still unabated. We also notice from the averments made in the petition that efforts have been made by Railways and Standard Operating Procedure (SoPs) have also been framed. However, on account of lack of effective implementation of the measures and SoP on combating trafficking of persons, the situation does not appear to improve,”
The bench directed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to submit relevant data on child trafficking in Delhi.
The court ordered,
“Let counter affidavit be filed by Delhi government and the Department of Women and Child Development within 4 weeks. Also counter affidavit shall also be filed by Union Ministry of Railways, Commissioner of Police and NCPCR separately. We also call upon the NCPCR to not only file response to para wise averments in the PIL petition but also place before the court the requisite data relating to child trafficking in Delhi so that appropriate directions and measures can be ordered by court to check such incidents. The said affidavits shall be filed within 6 weeks.”
Advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, representing petitioner organisations Just Rights for Children Alliance and Association for Voluntary Action, recounted an instance in which a rescued girl was not handed over to the child welfare authority. Following a raid by the petitioner group, the child was discovered working again at the same location from which she had been rescued.
Kaur said,
“Re-trafficking is also taking place, they are not being taken to child welfare centre. As per the date of Ministry of Railways, over 84,000 children have been trafficked in the past 6 years, There is an SoP on the subject. It has been clarified in the parliament itself that Railways police falls under the district police and this issue is to be managed by the state police.”