Court gives CWC custody of mentally unsound boy

The high court has sent a 14-year-old mentally unsound boy in the custody of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) because no one in his family can take care of him.

The boy was working as a mason and was the sole breadwinner of his family. Two people allegedly kept him in illegal confinement. Suspecting that they might do some harm to the boy, his grandfather, a coolie by profession, went to the police but no action was taken. He then moved a habeas corpus petition in the court.

The jurisdictional Annapoorneshwari Nagar police produced the child in the court which examined him and found him mentally unsounded. The grandmother informed the court that the boy's mother is also mentally unsound and cannot take care of him. He said he would have no objection if the court passed an order about the proper care and protection of the boy.

The court ordered the police to hand over the boy to the CWC chairperson and directed the latter to follow the procedure as prescribed under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and take the utmost care of his health. The committee must also conduct an inquiry and pass appropriate orders about the boy's future in accordance with the law, the court ruled. The court also directed the CWC chairperson to grant visitation rights to the boy's mother or grandfather.