'Licence Must Be Cancelled': Supreme Court's Tough Guidelines On Child Trafficking At Hospitals

Issuing a slew of directions to ensure the state machinery, courts, and police get sensitised to the agonising wait suffered by parents whose children are kidnapped, the court extended its order even to hospitals by directing suspension of license of any hospital where an infant gets trafficked.

A bench headed by justice JB Pardiwala said, “If any newborn infant is trafficked from any hospital, the immediate action against the hospital should be suspension of licence to run the hospital over and above other actions in accordance with law.” The court said that when a lady comes to deliver her baby in any hospital, “it is the responsibility of the administration of the hospital to protect the newborn infant in all respects”.

The directions by the court came in a batch of appeals filed by a set of three parents challenging bail granted to members of interstate child trafficking gang who were involved in kidnapping their children and later selling them to prospective parents seeking a child for a premium.