Delhi HC turns saviour of teenager, paves way for her education

New Delhi: This runaway teenager faced the ordeal of continuous physical assault by her mother for expressing desire to study but the Delhi High Court on Thursday turned out to be her saviour as it directed the police to protect her and ensure her education in the government school.

The high court also took an undertaking from her mother, a widow that she would not come in the way of education of her daughter who was forced to drop out when she was in class IX.

A bench of justices S Muralidhar and C Hari Shankar gave a patient hearing to both, the 17-year-old girl and her mother, before coming out with its directions.

"The girl is not asking for any luxurious educational institution. She simply wants to study in a school. She will right away go to school and you should not stop her any more," the bench told her mother.

While the girl said she fled from the house on May 2 as she was regularly being beaten and asked to work at home, the mother, who worked as a labourer, expressed her difficulty in meeting the day-to-day expenses after the death of her husband.

It was the mother who with the help of an advocate moved the plea to the high court seeking help of the police to trace her daughter, who said that she had left the home to stay with her married elder sister.

The girl, police claimed was recovered from Chawri Bazar metro station as the mother had also approached the cops with the case of her daughter missing.

In the order, the high court asked the senior police officers of the area to "take measures for her protection of life and liberty" which has to be informed on the next date of hearing on June 23 when the girl and her mother has been asked to remain present.

Additional public prosecutor Kamna Vohra, representing Delhi Police, told the court "when she (the girl) protested, she was allegedly given beating by her mother. In the backdrop of continuous assault, she fled away from her house on May 2.

During the hearing the mother said she want her daughter to pursue education and her counsel rubbished the girl's allegation that she was regularly beaten.