Case Title: In Re Contagion of COVID Virus In Children Protection Homes
Concerned about the illicit adoption of COVID-19 orphaned children, the Supreme Court had instructed state governments and union territories to take action against NGOs that engage in illegal adoption.
The ruling was issued by a bench comprised of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose in the court's suo moto case to address the difficulties of children impacted by COVID.
For the National Council for the Protection of Child Rights, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj argued before the court that certain unscrupulous organisations and individuals are engaging in illicit adoptions and making public advertising requesting donations.
On behalf of the NGO 'We the Women of India,' Advocate Shobha Gupta submitted a motion in the suo moto case, calling to the Court's attention to public ads and social media posts asking people to adopt orphans. She claimed that the majority of them are frauds, and that no adoption may take place without the assistance of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). She emphasised the importance of prompt action by state governments and union territories to curb the spread of such posts on social media, as well as strict punishment against individuals guilty of such posts. Ms. Shobha Gupta argued that per Section 108 of the JJ Act, 2015, maximum attention should be provided to existing initiatives that benefit afflicted children.
More than 30,000 children have lost at least one parent.
According to data collected by NCPCR till June 6, 30,071 children were orphans, lost one parent, or were abandoned as a result of COVID-19, according to the Supreme Court's order (3,621 orphans, 26,176 have lost one parent and 274 children have been abandoned).
The Court has already required state governments to submit information about children who lost parents in the pandemic since March 2020 to the NCPCR's national portal, "Bal Swaraj."
The State Governments/Union Territories are directed to publicise not only the provisions of the JJAct, 2015 but also the various programmes launched by the Central Government and the State Governments/Union Territories benefiting orphaned children and children in need of care and protection ".
The Court's directions are:
The State Governments/Union Territories are directed to take action against those NGOs/individuals who are indulging in illegal adoptions.
Wide publicity should be given to the provisions of the JJ Act, 2015 and the prevailing schemes of the Union of India and the State Governments/UnionTerritories which would benefit the affected children.