Why Allahabad High Court awarded ₹5 lakh compensation to minor girl lodged in Nari Niketan

The Allahabad High Court recently expressed shock over the conduct of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Kanpur, which in January this year sent a minor girl to the Nari Niketan despite the availability of her parents. .The division bench of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra ordered the CWC to pay a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the 15-year-old’s father within thirty days. The amount will be used for upbringing of the minor girl child, it said.In case the amount is not paid before May 23, the Court directed the Commissioner of Police, Kanpur Nagar to ensure that Chairman of the Nari Niketan/Child Welfare Committee remains present before the Bench..The Court said it was taking strong exception to the CWC’s action, considering the manner in which it had dealt with the life and liberty of a minor girl.“The most surprising and shocking part is the manner in which, the Nari Niketan/Child Welfare Committee, Kanpur Nagar has kept the minor child in Government Children Home (Women) which is a place where normally such type of children whose parents are eager to claim the custody of her child, are not kept as the father admittedly is capable of taking care of the minor daughter as he has custody for last many years,” the Court reasoned..The minor's mother had last month approached the High Court with a Habeas Corpus petition alleging that the Class VII had been kept in illegal custody by the CWC even as she was ready to take care of her daughter. The Court was also told that the minor’s father had registered a Police complaint, leading to registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against two accused for allegedly enticing the minor. However, the State said the information was found false and action was recommended against the complainant.The State also said that after the statements of the minor were recorded, the CWC directed that she be kept at Nari Niketan (Government Children Home).While asking the CWC to explain its order, the Court also ordered production of the minor..On April 22, the minor told the Court that she has been lodged at the Nari Niketan for the past three months and she could not appear in the class VII examination due to which she has now lost her academic year. She also told the Court that she wants to stay with her father and not the mother. The minor’s father said that the she was staying with him for the last many years and despite the fact that he is handicapped, he is taking care of the child and her education.“This fact could not be disputed by the mother that for the last 5-6 years, the detenue is residing in the care and custody of her father and the Court can visuualize that as the child is growing up, the mother has now become interested in taking her custody. We have also considered conduct of the mother who had, on earlier occasion taken custody of minor girl, ignoring her education and involved her husband in a false case,” the Court said..Considering the same, the Court handed over the custody of the minor girl to her father. However, it also clarified that the child’s mother would be entitled to seek her custody in accordance with the law.Advocate Sunil Srivastava represented the petitioners[Read Order]