TS High court directs govt to come up with policy for rescued children

The panel appreciated the 97% recovery but 1,000 children still missing makes the scenario disturbing

Hyderabad: A two-judge panel of the High Court at Hyderabad, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, on Thursday directed the State government to come up with a policy for reintegrating minor girls who had gone missing but recovered. The panel appreciated the 97% recovery but 1,000 children still missing makes the scenario disturbing. Demographics of the missing children shows the high 45% of BC girls missing. The panel took on file reports filed by the Director-General of Police but found that critical aspects were not addressed. It referred to a report submitted by a committee headed by L Ravichander, Senior Counsel, and directed the government to look into the recommendations made by the committee. It also asked the government to follow the guidelines issued by the apex court and place a proper policy for rehabilitation and reintegration of rescued children. “Where are our boys going, what about our girls?” the Chief Justice said. Referring to Ravichander’s argument that there is a tendency for minor boys to be caught up in bonded labour and girls in sex trafficking, the panel directed the DGP to hold a video conference with the officers of neighbouring States to see that other missing persons are traced and rescued. The panel posted the matter to January 7.

Coal transport

The same panel ordered notices to various departments of the State government, including Department of Mines, Department of Energy. Gandra Satyanarayana Rao, a social activist from Ganapur, Warangal, filed a public interest litigation case pointing out the unlawful transport of coal under the guise of coal dust from the Bhupalpally Opencast of Singareni Collieries Company Limited to Kakatiya Thermal Power Plant. The Special Government Pleader pointed out technical reasons and requested the court not to admit the case. The panel observed that the matter involves illegal transport of coal and that there might be official authorities acting hand-in glove with the mafia. “Coal is permitted to disappear illegally, for the benefit of people this Court requires to understand why and how coal is disappearing”, the panel stated. It adjourned the case by 3 weeks.

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MPs, MLAs cases

The panel refused to proceed with a public interest litigation case filed by Forum for Good Governance. The petitioner sought constitution of a special task force for completing the cases against MPs and MLAs within one year. Further, for appointment of public prosecutors and staff. The panel said directions were already issued to appoint staff and public prosecutors. It said that it believes the Government will take appropriate actions. When Senior Counsel Satyam Reddy said police were not cooperating, the panel said it was receiving reports from the special courts on a daily basis and it doesn’t have any such remarks. “As Supreme Court and High Court have already seized off this matter, there is no requirement to send any further notices in this case”, the panel said.

Drug trafficking

The panel directed the government to file a report on the investigation into the 2017 drug trafficking case. It was dealing with a petition filed by Congress leader and MP Revanth Reddy. He sought directions to the authorities to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. The Enforcement Directorate has already filed the counter in this case. The petitioner’s counsel complained that the counter on behalf of the government was pending for three years. He further stated that there are 12 FIRs registered in this case and the government was restraining to provide any information on the same for the last three years. Confirming the same, the ED stated that they are ready to proceed with the inquiry provided the government provides them the FIR copies and all other relevant documents. Granting time to the government to file its counter, the panel adjourned the case to December 17.

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