Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Kailash Gambhir and P.S. Teji

JUDGMENT

Kailash Gambhir, J.

1. By way of this order we propose to dispose of these two Writ Petitions.

2. The case in hand is a shocking revelation of how poor is the functioning of the Child Welfare Committees constituted under Section 29 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the Labour Department and the Delhi Police are. This petition was preferred by one Seema Roy under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to seek order or direction in the nature of Habeas Corpus to direct the respondents to produce her minor son Suraj aged about 12 years before this Court and to hand over his custody to the petitioner. This child Suraj was in the custody and care of respondent No. 3 Butterflies, which is an NGO duly recognised under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. As per this NGO, they received an information on the child helpline about Suraj working at the welding shop being run by one Mr. Kuldeep Singh. The sequence of events that followed after it was brought to their notice that the child labourer, Suraj, being a victim of child labour, as delineated by the NGO in their affidavit can be reproduced as under:-

1. That in the present case, Suraj, i.e. the child in concern, was a victim of child labour and as per the order passed by Child Welfare Committee was being kept at the Resilience Centre of Butterflies. The sequence of events is detailed hereinbelow:

(i) On 12.6.2015, at 12.25 AM, a call was received by Butterflies Childline (1098), from a concerned caller. The call was attended by Mr. Niraj (Child Protection Assistant) and the case was numbered as Butt/9667. The CCC reported that there are four to five children who are working at Vishwakarma Tempo Repairing Centre, Govindpuri Transit Camp. As per the caller, these children had been working there since six months and they worked from 9 a.m to 8 p.m every day for which they used to get Rs. 400 per month.

(ii) On 13.6.2015, Butterflies Staff member, Mr. Sarjeet Kumar (Child Protection Assistant) went to B/375, Vishwakarma Tempo Station, Govindpuri Transit camp for spot verification. He found that two children were working at the spot.

(iii) On 16.6.2015, the above information was provided to the concerned Deputy Labour Commissioner, District-South. A true copy of the said letter dated 16.6.2015 sent by Butterflies to the Deputy Labour Commissioner, alongwith a copy with receipt acknowledgment is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure R/3-3.

(iv) However, no action was taken by the Labour Department in this regard and the matter remained pending with them.

(v) Thereafter, on 8.7.2015, Mr. Sarjeet Kumar visited the concerned Labour Department and gave a reminder letter to the Department regarding taking action with respect to the child labour case. The Assistant Labour Commissioner received the said letter and orally assured that he will take up the matter with the Labour Inspection Officer (LIO) Rajesh Kumar. A true copy of this letter dated 8.7.2015, alongwith a copy of the letter with acknowledgment of receipt is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure R/3-4.

(vi) On the same day, Mr. Sarjeet Kumar spoke to LIO Rajesh Kumar regarding the present case. LIO Rajesh Kumar stated that a raid will be conducted at Govindpuri area on 14.7.2015. LIO Rajesh further requested Mr. Sarjeet Kumar to contact Police Station Govindpuri as well as the DLC regarding the said raid, as there could be a delay in the matter from their end.

(vii) On 13.7.2015, Mr. Sarjeet Kumar went to Po........