The National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told the Supreme Court that there are 9,346 children, who have been abandoned, orphaned or lost a parent to the COVID-19 pandemic as per the data submitted to it by different states till May 29.
The Maharashtra government, which filed a separate note before a bench of Justices L N Rao and Aniruddha Bose, said that 4,451 children have lost one of their parents due to the pandemic and 141 children have lost both parents as per the data received from different areas till May 30.
The NCPCR, in its affidavit filed through advocate Swarupama Chaturvedi, said states leading the chart like Uttar Pradesh have 2,110 such children, Bihar (1,327), Kerala (952) and Madhya Pradesh (712).
The top court asked state government authorities to continue uploading the data on NCPCR's website ¡®Bal Swaraj' till June 7 and furnish the details of the children affected by COVID-19.
The top court has been hearing an application, in a pending suo motu case on spread of COVID-19 in children homes, filed by the amicus curiae highlighting the woes being faced by kids orphaned by the deadly virus.
The NCPCR affidavit said that considering the surge of COVID-19, and consequently large number of deaths, it has become essential that additional efforts be made to ensure that the rights of children are protected.
It said the first step is to identify the child in need and develop a mechanism for tracking each child who has been orphaned or has lost a parent to COVID-19 and may not have any financial support.
¡°Therefore, every such child affected by COVID-19 and found to be in distress and without family support must be produced before the concerned Child Welfare Committee under Section 31 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015¡±, it said.
The Commission said it has devised the portal, 'Bal Swaraj' which is being used to collect data of such children.