23-01-10. Gujarat High Court on the S G highway in Ahmedabad. Photo by Kevin Antao.
Ahmedabad: A 15-year-old boy has moved Gujarat High Court seeking protection and welfare measures under the Juvenile Justice Act, alleging that his divorcee mother frequently abuses and beats him. The court has sought their responses by Dec 28, the next hearing date, on what action they took on the child’s earlier complaints, in which he had urged officials to rescue him and provide him with a safe and secure environment.
The teenager has requested that he be allowed to stay with his paternal grandparents, where he says he feels safe. In one petition, the boy has sought directions to the Child Welfare Committee “to consider and decide the petitioner’s application dated Oct 13 and his statement recorded on Oct 21, taking into account the petitioner’s own wishes and best interests, and pass an appropriate order in accordance with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 ensuring the best care, protection, interest and welfare of the child (the petitioner), in the interest of justice”. He has also requested the high court to direct the committee to ensure that he is not removed from his grandmother’s custody, where, according to him, his welfare and best interest lie.
He has also sought that an FIR be filed against his mother. Acting on two petitions filed by the minor through his grandmother, Justice M C Tyagi issued notices to the authorities concerned, including the child welfare committee and the city police. The petitioner further submitted that on one occasion, when his mother allegedly attacked him with a knife, he called the police control room and later filed a complaint with the Sarkhej police station, demanding registration of an FIR against her. The child eventually went to his grandparents in Morbi and filed two petitions in the high court last week through advocate Rafik Lokhandwala. He complained that the child welfare committee and the police did not act on his complaints, except for recording his statement. The petitions allege that the authorities failed to discharge their duties under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
The boy’s parents divorced in 2020, after which his mother retained custody, according to the petitions. She lives in Sarkhej, while the child’s paternal family lives in Morbi. His father is employed in Angola, Africa.