2015 Supreme(SC) 1397
MADAN B.LOKUR, UDAY UMESH LALIT
Bachpan Bachao Andolan – Appellant
Versus
Union of India – Respondent
Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. H.S. Phoolka, Sr. Adv. Mr. Jagjit Singh Chhabra, AOR Mr. Bhuwan Ribhu, Adv. Mr. Anand Kumar, Adv. Mr. Virender Verma, Adv. Ms. Shilpa Dewan, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. Maninder Singh, ASG Ms. V. Mohana, Sr. Adv. Mr. S. Wasim A. Qadri, Adv. Ms. Rekha Pandey, Adv. Ms. Sunita Sharma, Adv. Mr. Zaid Ali, Adv. Ms. Gunwant Dara, Adv. Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Adv. Mr. D.S. Mahra, AOR Ms. Sushma Suri, Adv. Mr. P.K. Dey, Adv. Mr. T.A.Khan, Adv. Mr. B.V. Balaram Das, Adv.
For the NHRC : Ms. Shobha, AOR
For the NALSA : Ms. Anitha Shenoy, AOR
For States of Andhra Pradesh : Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, Adv. Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv.
For the Arunachal Pradesh : Mr. Anil Shrivastav, AOR Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv.
For the Assam : Mr. Riku Sarma, Adv. Mr. Navnit Kumar, Adv. Ms. Deepika Ghatowar, Adv. for M/s Corporate Law Group
For the Bihar : Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Chandan Kumar, Adv. Ms. Varsha Poddar, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Srivastava, Adv.
For the Chhattisgarh : Mr. J.K. Gilda, AG Mr. C.D. Singh, AAG Mr. Aniruddh P. Mayee, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Adv. Mr. Pawan Shree Agarwal, Adv. Mr. V.C. Shukla, Adv. Mr. A. Selvin Raja, Adv.Mr. Sandeepan Pathak, Adv.
For the Gujarat : Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Ms. Jesal Wahi, Adv. Ms. Vinakshi Kadan, Adv.
For the H.P. : Mr. Suryanaryana Singh, AAG Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR
For the Jharkhand : Mr. Anil K. Jha, AOR
For the J&K : Mr. G.M. Kawoosa, Adv.
For the Karnataka : Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Parikshit P. Angadi, Adv.
For the Kerala : Ms. Liz Mathew, AOR Ms. Malavika Prasad, Adv.
For the Maharashtra : Mr. Kunal A. Cheema, Adv. Mr. Nishant Katneshwarkar, Adv.
For the Manipur : Mr. Sapam Biswajit Meitei, Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. Z.H. Isaac Haiding, Adv. Mr. S. Vijayanand Sharma, Adv.
For the Meghalaya : Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. S.C. Ghosh, Adv.
For the Mizoram : Mr. K.N. Madhusoodhanan, Adv. Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR
For the Nagaland : Mrs. K. Enatoli Sema, Adv. Mr. Edward Belho, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR
For the Odisha : Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, AOR
For the Punjab : Mr. Ajay Bansal, AAG Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Mr. Gaurav Yadava, Adv.
For the Rajasthan : Mr. S.S. Shamshery, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Singh, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
For the Sikkim : Ms. Aruna Mathur, Adv. Mr. Yusuf Khan, Adv. Mr. K. Vijay Kumar, Adv. for M/s Arputham Aruna & Co.
For the Tamil Nadu : Mr. B. Balaji, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Sharma, Adv.
For the Tripura : Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv. Ms. Varsha Poddar, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Srivastava, Adv.
For the Telangana : M/s. Palwai Venkat Law Associates
For the Uttar Pradesh : Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, Adv. Ms. Pragati Neekhra, Adv.
For the Uttarakhand : Ms. Rachana Srivastava, AOR
For the West Bengal : Mr. Anip Sachthey, AOR Ms. Shagun Matta, Adv. Ms. Haney Wadhwa, Adv.
For the A&N Islands : Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Adv. Mrs. G. Indira, AOR
For the Chandigarh : Ms. Udita Singh, Adv. Mr. Ravi Prakash, Adv. Mr. Chandra Prakash, AOR
For the Puducherry : Mr. V.G. Pragasam, AOR Mr. Prabu Ramasubramanian, Adv. Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. D. Mahesh Babu, AOR Mr. G. N. Reddy, AOR Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Ms. Shalini Chandra, AOR Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR Mr. Avijit Bhattacharjee, AOR
ORDER :
1. We have heard learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Additional Solicitor General.
2. We have also perused the affidavit filed by Mr. Naveen Yadav on 6th August, 2015. An explanation has been given by Mr. Naveen Yadav, which we accept. However, we wish to make it clear that the discrepancy in the number of missing children (which is very unfortunate) should be given the highest priority by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the discrepancy should be reconciled immediately.
3. It must be appreciated that we are not dealing with numbers, but we are dealing with the lives of the children. Unless this is appreciated by the Ministry, the problem of missing children will not be eliminated. We leave the matter at that and also waive the costs imposed.
4. Learned Additional Solicitor General says that the Advisory Boards have been set up in a large number of States, but it appears from the record that the Advisory Boards have not been set up in five States. He says that the Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development will once again take up the matter with the Chief Secretary of the concerned States to ensure that the Advisory Boards, as
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