Supreme Court issues notice to Centre to immediately frame policy to prevent child trafficking during lockdown

New Delhi, June 9, 2020: The Supreme Court has considered the matter of child labour, especially during the Covid-19 national lockdown, and it shows that it has taken up the case with all seriousness, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) Director (Legal) Sampurna Behura said after the apex court yesterday issued notice to the Centre to immediately frame a policy to prevent child trafficking during the lockdown.

Welcoming the order, Behura said that the proposed “action plan will help in ending child labour and exploitation in all forms and will go a long way in the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8.7”.

According to SDG 8.7, member states must “take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms”.

Acceding to the request by H S Phoolka, senior counsel appearing for BBA, the Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice of India S A Bobde and Justices A A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, directed the matter to be listed urgently after two weeks in the backdrop of reports that child trafficking could spike during the lockdown or once when it is lifted. The bench also sought a reply from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on BBA’s plea.

Urging BBA, the petitioner, to suggest mechanisms to control the market of child labour and prevent contractors from employing children, Chief Justice Bobde observed and instructed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the Centre must take wide-ranging steps, besides appointing and experts committee to look into the issue of child labour.

Admitting that BBA’s petition was not adversarial in nature, Mehta agreed to confer with Phoolka before working together to work out an action plan. The Centre’s stand was made clear after the Supreme Court urged the NGO and the Centre to research the issue of child labour during the lockdown and find ways to end the exploitation of children.

BBA’s main argument was that “once the lockdown is lifted and normal manufacturing activity resumes, factory owners will look to cover their financial losses by employing cheap labour. Numbers of street children pushed into begging will also spike. The other egregious manner of manifestation of child trafficking is sex trafficking. Underage girls will be bought and sold into prostitution”.