Supreme Court directed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday to constitute a panel and probe into the matters of ‘illegal detention of children‘ in the erstwhile state. The Bench was headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
Though the Bench refrained to pass any comments on the matter now, it ordered the high court’s juvenile justice committee to look into the alleged matter. The three-member bench was hearing the petition filed by child rights activists Enakshi Ganguly and Shanta Sinha. It has been reported that children as young as 10 are detained by the security forces.
The submitted petition read:
“The areas of concern as gleaned from reportage in mainstream newspapers are thus: the first pertains to illegal (if temporary) detention (and in some cases beatings) of young boys by security forces. The second concerns serious injuries and deaths of children, deliberate or accidental.”
Previously, the country’s apex court had also heard the petition filed by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi. He claimed that due to the ongoing lockdown, it was impossible to access the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Responding to this, the judge said that the situation is very serious as the common people are unable to approach the High Court.
On Monday, the Supreme Court also directed the Union government to restore the communications in the Jammu and Kashmir region. The court ordered the Central administration to work towards restoring normalcy in the area.