Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee. India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday firmly told the Centre that the scourge of child trafficking and its extent in a civilised country like India was just not acceptable and the government had to strengthen mechanism to curb it. tabela

Examining the issue in the light of submissions made by Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A K Pattnaik said: "In a civilized country you cannot have the problem of this magnitude. We need to identify the places where it happens and strengthen implementation mechanism."

Submitting a report titled `The Indian Child: India's Eternal Hope and Future', Subramanium suggested that the Goa Childrens Act, 2003, could serve as a model legislation.

"Not only does it define child trafficking but also seeks to provide punishment for abuse and assault of children through child trafficking for different purposes such as labour, sale of body parts, organs, adoption, sexual offences of pedophilia, child prostitution, child pornography and child sex tourism," he said. He even set out the need for having a rescue plan for children caught in prostitution and trade.

Though the Bench appreciated the report, it was not oblivious of the problems on the ground. "Our real problem is implementation. We do not lack material. The whole problem emanates from poverty. In a number of cases, you rescue these children and put them in remand homes. When their parents are informed they are not ready to take them back as they cannot afford them two square meals or because of the social stigma." it said.

"You must have adequate remand homes with infrastructure and proper hygiene conditions. There must be a programme for sending these children to school and schools must be told to admit these children. You need to first chalk out this programme on priority basis," it suggested.

Appearing for petitioner NGO `Bachpan Bachao Andolan", senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said the government for years have been sitting on an NHRC report suggesting an alarming figure of 44,000 children reported missing annually of which only 11,000 get traced.

In this regard, the Bench asked Gonsalves along with several other NGOs like Prajwala, Sankalp and National Legal Services Authority to make suggestions within a week and present a comprehensive report. Advocate Aparna Bhatt representing NGO Prajwala informed the court that by involving NGOs in rehabilitation work, the victims of trafficking have benefited. As a model case, she cited Andhra Pradesh where victims of trafficking are given land. The matter was posted for hearing on January 22.

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