Bring scheme for convicts’ kids: Andhra Pradesh High Court

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Dec 27 : A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, of the High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to work out a scheme to take care of children whose both parents are lodged in jail. The bench was moved by a case in which four children of convict-parents went missing and traced after three years. The eldest girl, however, is yet to be traced.

The children’s mother, Sharada, had moved the court, seeking their custody. Sharada's counsel told the court that she and her husband Rajpal Singh were sentenced for life for the murder of a relative over property, in 2005. The convicts’ children stayed with their grand mother till 2008. On May 21, 2008, the children Meena, Meenakshi, Sra-van and Baadal (all siblings) and their relative’s daughter Durga Bhavani left the house and did not return.

Their grandmother lodged a complaint with the police. When efforts to trace them failed, the children’s father wrote a letter to the Chief Justice, seeking his intervention in tracing out his children. Treating the letter as a writ, the High Court directed the police to trace the children within three months and handed them over to their grandmother.

According to the police, the five children left for Guntur where a woman noticed them wandering in streets and got them admitted at Sri Sri Rav-ishankar Seva Mandir. On December 17, one of the children, Meenakshi came to the city and met her mother Sharada, who was released from prison.

With the information provided by Meenakshi, a police team went to Guntur and traced the other children, except the elder daughter. Sharada approached the court for the custody of her children as the cops were under direction to give custody of the children to their grandmother. After a brief talk with the children, the Chief Justice directed the cops to hand over three children to Sharada and custody of Durga Bhavani to be given to her uncle.

Observing that there was no scheme to look after the children in such cases, the Chief Justice ordered the women and child welfare department to come out with a scheme concerning such children. The bench also directed the police to trace Sharada’s elder daughter.