PANJIM: NGO SCAN Goa on Wednesday petitioned the High Court of Bombay at Goa pointing out that non-Goan children kept in protected homes across the State, are left at the facility for several years without uniting them with their families in contravention to Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act.
The Division bench comprising Justice N M Jamdar and Justice Prithviraj Chauhan has directed the State to provide data on the number of non-Goan children lodged in protective homes.
The petitioner pointed out that as per the JJ Act, the children, after being produced before the child welfare committee (CWC) have to be sent back to their native place as the Act makes it mandatory for such children to be bought up with their own families and own social economic environment.
The petitioner said that across 67 protective homes, there are 2500 children of which many are from State’s like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa, etc. “These children are neither produced before the CWC nor are they sent back to their families,” SCAN said.
Pointing that in absence of data, it is not possible to proceed further in the matter, High Court directed the State to produce the required data of the children.
