NEW DELHI: Taking note of a petition raising the issue of malnutrition and deaths due to starvation in the country, especially of children, the Delhi High Court has sought responses from the Centre and the AAP government in the national capital.A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi government seeking their response on the issue raised in the petition, which claims malnutrition and deaths due to starvation are more prevalent among slum dwellers as many of them do not have ration cards to access subsidised foodgrains.
The court also directed that the Delhi government’s departments of health and family welfare, social welfare, and women and child development be made parties to the case and slated the next hearing for February 15 next year.
The order came on a petition filed by advocate Maneesh Pathak, who has claimed that poor families living in slums often do not have ration cards due to lack of documentary proof of their address, and contended that this should not be a ground for denial of subsidised food to them. “Making food security conditional (to be given only to a ration card holder) is a violation of the fundamental right to life under the Constitution,” the PIL stated.
He referred to the death in July this year of three minor girls who, according to the post-mortem report, were suffering from extreme malnutrition. He contended that such cases were on the rise in other states as well.
Delhi’s Social Welfare Minister, Rajendra Pal Gautam, said the AAP government was making efforts to ensure that no more deaths from starvation occur in the capital. “What happened was very terrible, but let me tell you, the government is committed in trying that such an incident is not repeated. We have made all the state district magistrates identify people who are in dire need of government aid, but it will take some time,” Gautam said. Pathak, in his plea, also sought framing of a policy so that the marginalised sections of society receive adequate supply of food and drinking water to ensure that they have a proper nutritional level.
Capital tragedy
In the capital’s Mandawali region, three children died of starvation in July. The children were aged eight, four and two. According to doctors, the three had not eaten for eight days, there was no trace of fat in their bodies, and their stomachs were empty. Police said the girls’ mother was mentally unstable and father was a rickshaw puller.