New Delhi: Amid growing concerns over child trafficking and exploitation, the Patna High Court has issued a notice to the Bihar government on a petition seeking a blanket ban on employing minors in orchestra and dance groups.
The plea, filed by Just Rights for Children (JRC)—a network comprising over 250 NGOs working to protect child rights—was heard by a bench led by Acting Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Partha Sarthy. It called for urgent directions to shut down venues where minors and trafficking victims are allegedly confined and forced into illegal acts.
Terming trafficking and exploitation of children as a “serious issue”, the ACJ Kumar-led bench issued notice to the state government and called for its response within a period of two weeks.
In its plea, the petitioner JRC prayed for the formation of a comprehensive and coordinated action plan in collaboration with all stakeholders to prevent the exploitation of minor girls, apart from seeking directions to the Bihar government to ensure regulation and monitoring of orchestra groups and to provide compensation and rehabilitation to the victims under the provisions of the Bihar Victim Compensation Scheme, 2014.
JRC’s partner organisations, in coordination with local administration, had earlier rescued a large number of minor girls during raids on orchestra groups in the districts of Rohtas, Saran, and Gopalganj.
Following these rescue operations, JRC demanded a complete ban on the employment of minor girls in orchestra groups and sought comprehensive rehabilitation measures to prevent them from being pushed back into exploitation.
“These children are subjected to daily sexual, physical and emotional abuse, which constitutes a blatant violation of their constitutional and fundamental rights under Articles 21, 23, 24, 38, 39 and 43 of the Constitution of India,” the plea said.
It added that stringent legal action should be taken against the perpetrators to dismantle trafficking networks and prevent exploitation of minors in orchestra and dance groups across the state of Bihar.
(inputs from IANS)