New Delhi: Faced with a “piquant” case of a 13-year-old girl marrying a youth and refusing to go back to her parents, the Delhi High Court on Monday asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to ensure her safe custody and education till settlement of the case.
“This is an extremely piquant situation where she has vehemently opposed restoration of her custody to the parents,” said a bench of justices Gita Mittal and J R Midha, while asking the NCPCR to refer her case to a Children Welfare Committee (CWC).
“We direct that the NCPCR would ensure that proper steps are taken in this regard and it (panel) would ensure her safe custody, education, counselling and conciliation,” the court said and made it clear that the youth, to whom she married, would not be arrested till October 11, next date of hearing.
It also said the parents of the youth will also be not arrested in the case.
The bench, meanwhile, ordered that the girl be sent to ‘Nirmal Chaya’, a government-run home for the women and asked the CWC, an NGO and the Mediation and Conciliation Centre at the high court to try to resolve the “strange” case.
“The family of the child and respondent (youth) deserved to be counselled,” it said and asked the families of the girl and youth to cooperate in the mediation and conciliation process.
During the day, the bench conducted the hearing in its chamber to know the responses of both parties including those of the girl, her parents and the youth and his family.
The court was hearing two petitions filed by the father of the minor girl and the youth respectively.
The father wanted the custody of the daughter while the youth sought a direction to the police to protect him and his minor wife.
PTI
