Delhi HC to Govt: Register, regulate placement cells to curb trafficking

New Delhi, Jan 5, 2011: In a landmark judgement to tackle trafficking of adults and minors from various parts of India to Delhi through placement agencies, the Delhi High Court has directed the Labour Department of the Government of NCT of Delhi to register all the placement agencies within a finite period of time.
Hearing a public interest petition, the Bench said the registration would involve recording the details of the persons running the placement agencies as well as the full details of the persons who are provided employment through these cells.
The Court issued these directions after being told that trafficking in men, women and children was taking place on a large scale and in the guise of providing employment these persons were kept in bondage with their wages not paid for years together.
The High Court also directed the Child Welfare Committee and the Delhi Commission for Women to verify the information provided by the placement agencies and particularly decide cases regarding withholding of wages, harassment and abuse, long hours of work and lack of basic facilities, including medical care and food. Legal aid was to be provided to the child or woman and the placement agencies were to be fined for any misconduct, the court stated.

Click here, to download the order.

PRESS RELEASE
6/1/11

On 23rd December 2010, Justice Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court issued an interim order recognizing the injustice embedded in India's Public Distribution Scheme. The case, Premlata w/o Ram Sagar & Ors. v. Govt. of NCT Delhi, W.P. Civ. 7687/2010, involves six destitute pregnant and lactating women who reside in Nangloi a western slum of Delhi, and have been denied their constitutional rights to food and reproductive and child health benefits since at least August 2009. Premlata underlines the inextricable connection between nutritional & food security and maternal health, and the need for increased monitoring and oversight of the government's Fair Price Shops (FPS). The Court ordered the government to organize a "camp" where all aggrieved card holders may have their ration cards sorted and reauthorized within 10 days time, and ordered the Asst. Food Commissioner to undertake an "intensive survey" of the FPSs' in the region and submit a status report as to his findings. As Justice Muralidhar explained,

"The Court is of the view that the monitoring of the fair price shops has to be tightened and poor persons ought not to be denied their entitlement to rations on account of non-functioning FPS . . . [the] purpose of this survey is to ensure that the FPSs function in a proper manner and the card holders are not deprived of the rations and other benefits to which they are
entitled. "

The case holds great promise in ensuring a more transparent and efficient delivery system of rations to India's poor, and reinforce the life-saving link between food and reproductive health services in ensuring safe motherhood. A copy of the order is attached.


Maternal mortality and morbidity is a global human rights concern. The maternal mortality ratio in India is higher than in 127 countries, including the neighboring states of Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, the Human Rights Law Network's Reproductive Rights Unit uses the legal system to obtain government accountability for reproductive rights violations, including preventable pregnancy-related deaths and disabilities.

For further details about the case, or to learn more about our work, please contact:

Sukti Dhital
Human Rights Law Network
Reproductive Rights Unit
Mob: 9711487238
sfdhital@gmail.com
www.hrln.org