HC directs DLSA to submit report over child placed in Nalgonda shishugruha

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday instructed the secretaries of the district legal services authority of both Nalgonda and Suryapet to furnish a report on the proceedings and steps taken for protective custody of a two-year-old child who was rescued by authorities after busting a child trafficking racket.

The order was passed by the HC while hearing an appeal filed by M. Venkanna who adopted the child before she was rescued by the authorities. He challenged the order of a single judge who declined to grant the custody of the child to him, observing that he did not adopt the child from the latter’s natural parents but was procured through a middle man for some consideration.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin, hearing the appeal petition, said the repot to be submitted by the DLSAs should comprehensively indicate as to whether the procedure and measures contemplated under the Juvenile Justice Act-2015 were being followed in the child case. The bench said the report should also comprise details of the other children kept in Shishugruha of Nalgonda under the protective custody following the orders of the Child Welfare Committee.

The DLSAs should explain if there are any such Homes functioning in Suryapet as per the JJ Act. The report should be furnished within two weeks. Earlier, the bench said the remarks column in the Abstract Register submitted by the Nalgonda Child Protection Officer showed the Social Investigation Report (SIR) was done on June 13 of 2025.

However, it did not mention the date on which the instructions were given to the social worker concerned to conduct SIR in respect of the two-year-old child. The SIR also did no mention when it was prepared. It was the basis on which the CWC would form an opinion for the rehabilitation of a child.