The Supreme Court Monday sought response from the Centre and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on a plea by an NGO seeking framing of a policy to prevent child trafficking which has allegedly seen a sudden rise during the Covid-19 lockdown.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, hearing the PIL filed by the NGO — ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’, run by Nobel laureate Kailash Satayathi — issued notices to the NDMA, Ministries of Home Affairs and Labour and Empowerment and nine states.
The bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and Hrisheksh Roy, took note of the submissions of senior advocate HS Phoolka on behalf of the NGO and asked him to find and suggest “some way” to ensure that children are not “exploited”.