The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court seeks report from the principal secretary of the Women and Child Development Department(WCDD) after the death of four infant girls in Government children protection home.
A division bench of Justice D.K Upadhyay and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi expressed its displeasure and directed the WCDD to file counter affidavit within three weeks on the matter.
“The facts pleaded in this case are very serious and prima-facie, depict unpardonable callousness on the part of the State authorities as they appear to have utterly failed in discharge of their duty which has resulted in death of four young girl children,” the bench stated.
This case was brought to light after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Shiva Nath Mishra based on a newspaper report on the death of four infant girls aged between 1.5 months to 5 months in the Government Children Protection Home at Prag Narayan Road in Lucknow.
The Court was informed that the superintendent of the children’s home had been suspended following the deaths of four infants, and that a Magisterial inquiry had been ordered into the deaths.
“While filing counter-affidavit, respondents shall clearly indicate the steps which are envisaged to be taken at their end to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the Children Protection Homes throughout the State of Uttar Pradesh,” the Court stated.
The Court also ordered the petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Santosh Srivastava, to file a rejoinder affidavit within one week of filing the counter affidavit.
As a result, the case was scheduled for a rehearing after four weeks.
