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Ferozepur orphanage: After HC order, 43 inmates from Jharkhand sent home
On May 18, the child security officer, Ferozepur, had instructed the orphanage, being run by an NGO, to comply with the HC orders send back 47 inmates staying there by May 30, but the authorities did not pay heed to the orders
FEROZEPUR: Forty-three inmates of Arya Ananthayla, an orphanage in Ferozepur, were sent back to their homes in two districts of Jharkhand on Thursday following orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court.
On May 18, the child security officer, Ferozepur, had instructed the orphanage, being run by an NGO, to comply with the HC orders send back 47 inmates staying there by May 30. But when the authorities did not pay heed to the orders, a team of officials and cops led by duty magistrate visited the orphanage and sent 43 inmates (19 boys and 24 girls) to their homes in Khunti and Ranchi districts. The remaining four belong to Punjab.
A bogie was reserved for inmates in the train. They were accompanied by cops and representatives of the civil administration.
Ferozepur SDM Babandeep Singh Walia said: “The inmates will be handed over to the child welfare department in Jharkhand.”
The high court order stated: “The state counsel has not been able to cite any provision under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, to construe that there is an embargo with regard to admitting children, who may be residents from outside Punjab. The child welfare committee wanted to admit local children to provide them the shelter but it was refused on the ground that the facility was already full to its capacity.”
“If the petitioner, Arya Ananthayla, declines admission to the children who are in need, for the reasons that it already has utilised its capacity to the hilt by admitting inmates from Jharkhand, no exception can possibly be taken to the decision of the child welfare committee, Ferozepur, in calling upon the orphanage to send such inmates back to their home districts or states.”
But the orphanage management had been delaying repatriation of inmates under the garb of Covid-19. Now, that the threat of Covid-19 has simmered down, the authorities did not have any better option than to comply with the court orders and hence the process of sending back the children is finally underway. The vacancies created by the repatriation of these children to their home state will allow opportunities for the needy in Punjab.
