The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday sought an urgent report from the Mansa District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) on the condition and custody of a five-month-old baby who was allegedly sold by his drug-addicted parents for Rs 1.8 lakh, and asked why the infant was not kept with his mother, who is currently in judicial custody.
Hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by retired boxing coach and former Sports Authority of India (SAI) head coach Labh Singh, a division bench of Chief Justice Shail Najoo and Justice Sanjeev Berry issued notice to the Punjab government. The court directed that responses be submitted before the next hearing on November 18.
The petition was argued by senior advocate Baltej Singh Sidhu, assisted by advocate Himmat Singh Sidhu, who stated that the Mansa incident reflects the convergence of drug addiction, poverty and vulnerability of children in Punjab. Baltej Singh Sidhu said the state’s failure to put in place a coordinated anti-drug and rehabilitation framework had pushed families to the brink.
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He drew the court’s attention to numerous studies and government records depicting the scale of the crisis. He claimed that as of 2022, more than 3 million people in Punjab were consuming some form of drug, citing state-level polls and PGIMER which estimated that 15.4 per cent of the state’s population was involved in drug abuse.
He also cited a 2023 parliamentary report showing that 3,43,000 minors were using opiates, including heroin, 18,100 were using cocaine, and about 72,000 were dependent on inhalants. Baltej Singh Sidhu also stated that Punjab recorded the highest drug overdose death rate in India in 2022, with the number of deaths reaching 144 people, and that 16 percent of female drug addicts in India are from Punjab.
Punjab’s share of drug deaths nationally was 21 per cent, mostly among youth between the ages of 18 and 30, he said, adding that chronic demand, entrenched supply chains and “protectionism” within law enforcement authorities prevented effective enforcement of the law.
The PIL arises from an FIR registered at Barita police station on October 25 after a 19-year-old mother, a former state-level wrestler, and her husband sold their infant child through a forged adoption deed. The Child Welfare Department later detained the child.
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During the hearing, Baltej Singh Sidhu said addiction alone should not justify separating a child from the mother without examining the alternatives imposed by law. He referred to Section 6 of the Hindu Minorities and Guardianship Act, which recognizes the mother as the natural guardian of a child under the age of five.
The court questioned why the infant was placed in institutional care rather than being kept with the mother in custody, noting that infants of this age are usually allowed to stay with incarcerated women. “There is no law on earth that can deprive a child of the warmth of its mother’s embrace,” said senior advocate Baltej Singh Sidhu. The court ordered the DCPO to submit a detailed case report on the infant’s welfare and care arrangements.
The lawyer, when appearing for the state, confirmed that the mother had applied for bail and was still in judicial custody, while the child was still under the care of the Child Welfare Department. He also said that a government task force headed by a senior police officer has been formed to stop the flow of drugs.
(tags for translation) Chandigarh
