SC takes suo moto cognizance of letter seeking to stop participation of children in protests

New Delhi [India], Feb 7 (ANI): The Supreme Court has taken suo moto cognizance of a letter by Bravery Award winners seeking direction for authorities to stop the involvement of children and infants in demonstration and agitations, in the wake of the death of a four-month infant of a Shaheen Bagh protestor on January 30.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde will hear the case on Monday.
Twelve-year-old Zen Gunratan Sadavarte, in a letter to the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on February 5, said that children and infants be not allowed to participate in such protests and agitation as this amounts to torture and cruelty.
Zen had received a bravery award from the President this year for showing exemplary courage in the Crystal Tower fire incident in Mumbai in 2018 and saved 17 lives including her parents' in the fire incident.
"The Shaheen Bagh protestors include women, senior citizens, newborn babies and children ignoring the fact that newborn babies need a lot of attention and care as they cannot express their pains in particulars thereafter also ignoring the conditions unfavourable to the children, they are brought to the protest place which is violative of their child rights and natural justice," the letter said.
She also said that the child's parents -- Arif Mohammed and Nazia Arif Mohammed -- and the protest organisers failed to protect the child's rights.
The letter further said that the infant was declared dead on arrival at the hospital and death certificate issued by the hospital has not mentioned any specific reason for the death.
"Police failed to stop the children to participate in such gathering/ agitation," the letter read.
People have been protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) since December last year.
The CAA grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. (ANI)