City lawyer moves Supreme Court for orphans’ rights
LUCKNOW: Should more than 2 crore orphans in the country be entitled to same benefits as being extended to children belonging to underprivileged sections of the society?
Poulomi Pavini Shukla, a 25-year-old law graduate hailing from Lucknow, has put up this pertinent question in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention in ensuring the right to life, right to education and right to equality to orphans. The Supreme Court on Thursday took up the PIL and issued a notice to the Centre and states asking them to respond to the plea seeking direction to the central government to provide benefits to orphans.
The petition, filed on May 2, demanded same benefits to orphans as being extended to children belonging to minority and backward communities.
In the petition, Shukla said the State should assume the role of parents for orphans, whose antecedents were unknown.
“In India, now fast becoming a superpower, the State has essentially failed to nurture its poorest and youngest abandoned citizens who are the weakest on earth. In the petition, we have asked for reservation for them in education and jobs. I think an orphan deserves equal share of educational loans, finances and credits,” said Shukla.
She said the petition was an outcome of the plight that she came across during her visits to orphanages in different parts of the country.
Shukla said she visited more than 50 orphanages in eight states and saw the misery and problems of orphans from close quarters.
“These children don’t deserve a step-motherly treatment. They too have equal right to live or study. The government violates the right to equality to orphans when it gives more financial and educational support to children with parents,” she added.
Shukla has also co-authored a book titled “Weakest on Earth – Orphans of India”, which was published by Bloomsbury in November 2015. The book has been widely commended, including an endorsement by a former Supreme Court judge justice VS Sirpurkar. “The book covers children whose parents are unknown, absent or not there and highlights their plight,” she added. Shukla said India has more than 20 million orphans and an additional number of over 10 million streetchildren.
“So far, no official survey has been carried out by the government of India to ascertain the total number of orphans. Such surveys are done in some of the most backward countries like Myanmar, Ethiopia and Indonesia,” she said.
Shukla added there were more than 117 districts that did not have any orphanage. “Besides, the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), the government’s flagship scheme meant to take care of orphans, barely covers one lakh orphans,” she said, adding that the petition was just an attempt to bring justice to orphans who were in need of care and protection.