New Delhi: Taking suo motu cognizance of the death of a four-month-old child at the Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA/NRC protest recently, the Supreme Court of India on Monday issued notices to the Central government and the Delhi government over the issue of preventing children from attending demonstrations and agitations.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde took up the matter on its own motion after 12-year-old bravery award winner Zen Gunratan from Mumbai had written a letter to the CJI, seeking a probe into the minor's death and directions to prevent children from taking part in protests.
Hearing the matter on Monday, lawyers representing three mothers of Shaheen Bagh argued that their children face constant harassment in their school where they are allegedly subjected to various taunts. The lawyers continued, "Children are being called names, 'terrorist', 'gaddar' (traitor), 'Pakistani', in school! They come home crying!"
Further, when the lawyers tried to raise the subject of children being put in detention camps, CJI Bobde was quick to shut this line of argument down, remarking, "We are not on CAA or NRC or rude behaviour in school! We are concerned with a particular issue!" He said that the top court cannot be used for speaking "all these things", adding that the bench would not entertain this line of argument.
"A child has died!" the CJI exclaimed, saying that the mother should be backing the motion "instead of causing more trouble".
One lawyer tried to argue that the protesting women live in slums and have no option but to take their toddlers along to the protest site. Advocate Nandita Rao argued that children's right to protest had been recognised by the United Nations as well and why people were objecting to children participating in protests
alone.
"We have the greatest respect for motherhood and the highest concern for children! We only want to hear legal points! Don't make unnecessary arguments or raise irrelevant submissions to cause guilt or make these kind of explosive comments!...", the CJI said.
Later, Advocate Sharukh Alam clarified to the bench by submitting: "Political is personal for them. For these mothers, home is not the kind of safe space as we know it. The protest area is a part of their extended existence. Our lives aren't sanitized, the protest site is a place where the children are dealing with/understanding their lives and realities. And in those situations, they experience slurs and 'gaalis' like being Pakistani".
The top court also allowed 12-year-old Gunratan, who had first written to the CJI, to appear before it and make her submission.