New Delhi:
"You are keeping them like animals. Are they cattle? There cannot be worse kind of human rights violations than this", an angry Delhi High Court bench slammed the city government and an NGO over the "inhuman" condition at a home run by them for mentally-challenged people.
Seeking a response from Delhi government, the bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw made the remarks after seeing photographs of the living condition of the inmates in Asha Kiran Home run by the city government in collaboration with NGO Hope Foundation.
The bench sought a detailed affidavit from the Ministry of Social Welfare of Delhi government and asked for total number of inmates staying in the home and the existing number of staff to maintain the home.
The High Court also sought the presence of the Home's administrator on the next date of hearing on July 25.
The court passed the order after a committee of three lawyers, set up it earlier, submitted the photographs about the living condition at the home after inspecting it on Saturday (July 14).
The lawyers alleged the house does not have adequate staff to take care of the inmates and the condition of the women in the Home is worse as they were not provided with proper clothes including undergarments.
It was alleged by the lawyers that during their visit to the Home, no senior officer was available and a security guard had illegally detained them following an instruction from his senior.