The top court of a central Indian state has quashed a cri-minal case of child trafficking against a Protestant leader, say-ing it was ill-intended and meant to damage his image. The Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court “quashed the false case on Sept. 23,” said Shashank Shekhar, a lawyer representing Ajay Lall, founder of the Central India Christian Mission. The high court noted that the case against “the petitioner is sugar-coated with ill-intention and made to belittle his image in the soci-ety,” Shekhar told. Police in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district charged Lall in August with committing various offen-ses under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child-ren) Act. Lall was accused of not sharing details of two children who stayed at his orphanage 15 years ago, which led to the registration of a case of child trafficking. The bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi sla-mmed the police for registering the false case. He said the action was initiated against Lall without a complaint or obje-ction from any children or their parents. The high court also noted the arbitrary role played by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a statutory federal body to protect the rights of children. “A well-orchestrated campaign and negative media coverage was carried out to malign the image of an insti-tution that extends a helping hand to poor children,” said Daniel John, a Catholic leader based in the state capital Bho-pal.
India’s poor deserve better than this
Concerns are being raised about whether the needs of poor and marginalized communities in India are receiving enough attention in current government policies. Observers say
