Bombay High Court on Friday expressed its anxiety that if the Maharashtra government was directed to treat abandoned children on par with orphaned kids for reservation in educational institutions, then it might encourage abandonment, especially of girl children.
A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale said a balance ought to be struck as the state government was not shirking its responsibility of taking care of abandoned children.
The court was hearing a petition filed by city-based NGO NEST Foundation and two adult abandoned girls challenging a government resolution that accorded reservation benefits in educational institutions to orphaned kids. The petition sought that the benefits be also extended to abandoned children.
The petitioner’s counsel Abhinav Chandrachud told the court on Friday that there was no difference between an orphaned child and a child who has been abandoned. The Juvenile Justice Act does not create any classification then why the state government is creating a classification, he said. Orphanage is a matter of fact but abandonment can be created it happens this is the sad truth. The government does not want to create such a situation, Saraf said.
The bench agreed to this and said, This is our anxiety too. It will encourage abandonment, especially of girl children. We need to find a balance. We come across horrific cases where children are abandoned in railway stations. Then such children are taken to state-run shelters. The state government is not shirking away its responsibility of taking care of such children, Justice Patel said.
Saraf said that the government would take care of such children till they attain the age of 18. The government just cannot provide reservation to abandoned children. Everyone cannot be given reservation. Reservation is entirely a policy decision of the government, he said.