Building a Wider
Horizon With Labour
The Court held that it was clear from the statement of the child to the Child Welfare Committee that she was neither treated as a servant nor for bonded labour in the house of the respondent, and that she was happy there and wished to return. Further, the Court also noted that the State did not have the requisite infrastructure or resources to provide shelter to such children and to give them a life of dignity to prepare them as good citizens and requested the Government of India to ‘think and act upon’ it. In such a scenario, the Court found there to be no offence made out under the Juvenile Act, the Child Labour Act, nor the Bonded Labour Act, and ordered the child to be sent back to the respondent’s house.
