Children Are Not Only Assets Of Parents But Also Of Society: Duty Of Parents To Avoid Presence Of Small Kids At Protests: Kerala HC
The Kerala High Court suggested parents to avoid presence of small kids at protest, dharnas, etc. as they are not only assets of parents but also of the society.
The Court said that stringent actions should be taken by law enforcement agencies if any such willful acts was found to be done by the parents.
The bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan observed, “It is now a trend to take small children for protest, dharna, satyagraha etc,. The children are unaware of the reason for the protest, dharna or satyagraha. The parents are taking them for these protest and other agitations mainly to get attention to their agitation. The parents are not taking the seriousness of the situation when small children are taken for agitations, protest, dharna, satyagraha etc,. There are several reasons to stop this practice of taking small children for these types of protest, dharna, satyagraha etc…Children are not only the assets of the parents but also of the society. Therefore, it is the duty of the parents to avoid the presence of small kids who are not aware of the purpose for which they are protesting or conducting dharnas, satyagrahas etc.”
Advocate PV Venugopal appeared for the Appellant and PP Sangeetharaj NR appeared for the Respondent.
Brief Facts-
The Petitioners, parents of a 3-year-old child, were protesting the death of their other child due to alleged medical negligence at the Hospital. They staged a 59-day protest outside the Government Secretariat seeking financial aid. The police noticed the couple with their child sitting under the sun and, after failed attempts to convince them to stop, filed a case under Section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, for allegedly endangering the child.
The Court observed, “…the commonsense of the parents should stand above their grievance in such situations, even if the grievance is genuine. If the law enforcing authority finds that the children are taken for protest, satyagraha, dharna etc at their tender age and if the intention is to attract attention to their protest, they have every right to proceed in accordance with the law. A small child below the age of 10 may not know the purpose of the protest, satyagraha, dharna etc.”
“Let them play with their friends or go to school or sing and dance according to their wishes during their childhood.”, the Court added.
The Court mentioned the decision in Amal and Another v. State of Kerala and Another [2020(4) KHC 781] and quoted, “It is not the scheme and spirit of S.23 that every doing of an act by the person in charge or control of the juvenile, which affects the body and mind of the child would constitute an offence punishable under the section despite it lacks criminal intention. The expression 'willfully' in S.23 of the JJ Act must be given meaningful consideration. Likewise, the expression 'unnecessary' preceding the words 'mental or physical suffering' is also relevant.”
The Court said that it cannot be said that the petitioners intend to give unnecessary mental or physical suffering to the child.
Accordingly, the Court allowed the Criminal Miscellaneous case.
Cause Title: Suresh v. State of Kerala (Neutral Citation: 2024:KER:71322)
