Infant’s death at Shaheen Bagh: SC issues notice to government

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 10

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the government asking it to respond to the death of an infant who was taken to Shaheen Bagh—the venue of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the capital.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde—which had on Friday taken Suo Motu cognisance of the issue to “stop involvement of children and infants in demonstrations”—expressed regret at the death of the infant.

As some lawyers tried to raise issues of CAA, NRC and detention centres, the Bench cut them short.

“Can a four-month-old go to protest? All mothers should, in fact, support this cause. Don’t create more problems,” the CJI said.

The Bench took exception to some lawyers who said children being called Pakistanis and terrorists in school.

“You cannot use this platform to make such statements. That is not being considered here. We don’t want people to use this platform to make the situation worse. You cannot make irrelevant arguments. This case is not on CAA, NRC, or students being called Pakistanis”, Justice Bobde said.

Some lawyers said the women were compelled to take their children with them as they could not have left them in jhuggis.

The four-month-old baby had died in his sleep on the night of January 30 after returning from Shaheen Bagh where his parents had taken him during the anti-CAA protest.

The Supreme Court had on Friday had taken cognisance on its own to “stop involvement of children and infants in demonstrations” following the death of an infant on January 30 at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi.

Recently a 12-year-old National Bravery Award winner had written to the CJI seeking directions to prevent children from participating in demonstrations as it “amounts to cruelty”.

Zen Gunratan Sadavarte, a recipient of the 2019 Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) National Bravery Award, said in the letter to the CJI’s office that the parents of the baby and the organisers of the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh had “failed” to protect the rights of the kid, resulting in his death.

Sadavarte, a student of Class 7 from Mumbai, has also alleged that the protesters at Shaheen Bagh include infants and children, who are exposed to conditions unfavourable to them, which is a violation of their rights.

Sadavarte received the National Bravery Award for guiding 17 people to safety when a fire broke out at Parel’s Crystal Tower.

“The Shaheen Bagh protesters at New Delhi, include women, senior citizens, newborns and children, ignoring the fact that newborn babies need a lot of attention and care…,” the letter said.

The police failed in stopping children from participating in such agitations harmful to their health, it alleged, expressing surprise over the fact that even the death certificate of the four-month-old did not mention the cause of death.