New Delhi: Children are well within their right to know, discuss and debate on any issue facing India, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights told the Delhi high court, refuting the national panel’s allegations on the running of two children’s protection homes associated with activist Harsh Mander.
According to LiveLaw, the DCPCR called the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights’s notes to the high court “reckless observations” and said, “It is unclear from the provision how protesting against the government’s policy decision and holding poor and even incorrect opinions about the Government can be termed as illegal. Any conclusion in that direction is the death knell of democracy.”
In October 2020, the NCPCR had raided Ummeed Aman Ghar and Khushi Rainbow Home – with which the former IAS officer is associated – as a part of what he said was a “witch-hunt” against those who participated in the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The two homes had challenged the NCPCR’s inspection reports and the manner in which the raids were conducted. The homes are run by the Centre for Equity Studies, where Mander is a director, LiveLaw has reported.
However, in a piece for The Wire in the aftermath of the raids, Mander had noted that he does not have formal ties with the two homes, even though he visits them often.
A few days ago, the NCPCR filed an affidavit with the Delhi high court, alleging a range of violations of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and its Model Rules, 2016, and discrepancies on part of the management, including the fact that children were taken to Jantar Mantar to protest against the CAA.
Indian Express, in a report, said that the NCPCR had cited a complaint that it had received from one Kalinga Rights Forum, alleging violations of the Juvenile Justice Act at the two homes.
“The complainant had alleged that children from ‘only a particular religion’ were being housed in the homes and that CES was receiving ‘hefty funds’ which were being ‘used for illicit activities like religious conversion’,” the NCPCR’s affidavit allegedly said.
The DCPCR had visited the two homes and concluded that they were being run according to norms. Three more statutory bodies, the District Inspection Committee (DIC), Child Welfare Committee-II (South) and State Inspection Committee (SIC) had also conducted inspections following the NCPCR’s raid and concluded that the latter’s findings lacked merit.
To the high court, the DCPCR said that the NCPCR’s observations threaten the “independent, impartial, neutral and sane nature that a Child Rights Commission ought to exhibit.”
Crucially, the DCPCR observed that the NCPCR’s belief that children being “taken” to protests is harmful is in itself one that robs children of dignity.
“All citizens including children are well within their right to know, discuss, debate on any issue facing India and form their own conclusions. The fear expressed by the NCPCR is rooted in the belief that children are stupid, have no agency and cannot think at all. DCPCR vehemently opposes such a belief and expects greater dignity be accorded to children.”
To the NCPCR’s contention that the two homes are funded by “multiple sources,” the DCPCR noted bitingly, “[The] NCPCR does not understand how NGOs fund themselves, and rarely does any NGO have a single source of funding for their operations.”
The DCPCR also held that the NCPCR’s “meddling” into functions that are not “their job” is hurtful to the standing of the commissions themselves.
This is not the only instance when the NCPCR has been accused of furthering the ruling party’s political line. In September last year, it filed a police complaint against fact-checking outlet Alt News‘s co-founder Mohammad Zubair under the POCSO Act over alleged “harassment and torture” of a minor girl on social media.
On August 6, Zubair while responding to online abuse from Twitter user Jagdish Singh (@JSINGH2252), shared Singh’s display picture with a little girl (blurring her face) and wrote, “Hello Jagdish Singh. Does your cute grand daughter know about your part time job of abusing people on social media? I suggest you to change your profile pic.”