NEW DELHI: National Bravery Award winner Zen Sadavarte wrote to the Chief Justice of India seeking directives to prevent children from participating in protests.
The letter comes days after the death of an infant at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protest. Four-month-old Mohammed Jahaan died during the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on January 30.
The Class 7 student in her letter claimed that the incident was a violation of the deceased infant’s right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
“Newborn babies need a lot of attention and care as they cannot express their pain. They are taken to the protest sites which violates the children’s rights and natural justice,” she wrote while asking for a probe into the death of four-month-old Mohammed Jahan.
The police had failed to take cognisance of the involvement of children in protests, she said and appealed to the Apex Court to direct authorities to stop such involvement.
Zen, in her letter, has pointed out that Jahaan’s Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution was violated as he accompanied his mother daily for the protests and after returning home at 1 am on January 30, passed away in his sleep.
The 12-year-old argued that organisers of the Shaheen Bagh protest and parents of the infant had failed to protect Jahaan’s rights.