Provide immediate aid to children orphaned by Covid: SC

Supreme Court took note of children who have become orphans due to the Covid pandemic and directed the states to provide immediate relief to them.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday expressed its grave concern towards the children who have become orphans due to the COVID-19 pandemic and directed the states to provide immediate relief to them by taking care of their needs.

The court wanted the government to understand the agony of children and take care of their needs on priority as it is unknown that how many children are without food and left alone at the mercy of others.

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"I cannot even imagine the number of children starving after they lost their parents. Whether covid or no covid the administration must take care of orphans," said Justice L Nageswara Rao.

Justice L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose were hearing a case on the contagion of Covid-19 in Child Protection Homes.

Amicus Curie Advocate Gaurav Aggarwal brought the court's attention to a large number of children losing their parents and suggested that quick identification of orphan children is needed and it can be done by an NGO or a police officer.

"The difficulty is to immediately address the needs of the children as they may need ration, money and shelter. The immediate displacement of a child from its relative's residence can also be traumatic. There has to be monitoring by some authority," Agarwal said.

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Apart from directing the states to take care of the immediate needs of children, the court also directed district administrations to upload their data on the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights website by May 30.

"Union of India has to file the latest information on the total number of orphaned children, who lost their parents either due to pandemic or otherwise, and the steps taken to attend to their needs. ASG also needs to provide the necessary material to the amicus curie which he can rely on for the matter," the court stated.

The matter has been listed for further hearing on June 1.

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