The Supreme Court today expressed shock at the discrepancy in two surveys reflecting a difference of around two lakh children staying in child care institutions and said it was "very, very disturbing" that such children were being "treated" as mere numbers.
The top court was shocked when it was told that as per a 2016-17 survey carried out at the directions of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the number of children living in child care institutions (CCIs) was around 4.73 lakh, while the data filed in the court by the government this March says it was about 2.61 lakh.
"It is not clear what has happened to the balance of around two lakh children. These children appear to be missing from the statistics," a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said.
It also asked the Centre "how many children are missing in this country besides these two lakh" and said if the provisions of law were being implemented in "letter and spirit", then child abuse incidents like those in Muzaffarpur and Deoria would not have happened.
The bench, which also included Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, observed that there was a possibility that the CCIs may have given "inflated figures" to state governments to get more funds. This serious issue needs to be looked into, it said.
The counsel representing the Centre told the court that the government had compiled the data supplied by states and union territories about the number of children living in CCIs and filed the report in this regard in March.
"We rely on figures provided by states. The states have to say how there is such a variation. We will get back to the states as to which figure is correct," the Centre's counsel told the bench, adding "if these children are missing, it is a cause of serious concern and this is very, very alarming."