Fact-Finding Report on Night Shelters in New Delhi: The Status of Pregnant and Lactating Women

Post Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Although state governments still largely neglect urban homeless people, recent decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and High Court of Delhi have recognized the fundamental rights of homeless people. In 2010, in response to the deaths of several homeless people in New Delhi during the harsh winter weather, the Hon’ble Supreme Court passed a series of orders mandating that the New Delhi state government provide sufficient numbers of permanent shelters for homeless people, that the shelters be open 24 hours a day, that they function in all seasons, and that they have basic facilities and amenities to enable homeless people to live their lives with dignity. The Hon’ble Supreme Court also recognised the discrete needs of especially vulnerable groups of homeless people including single women and their children, disabled homeless people, and homeless families. Subsequently, the Hon’ble Supreme Court mandated that the Government of New Delhi pay special attention to vulnerable groups within the homeless community.People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) vs. Union of India and Ors., W.P. (C) 1996 of 2001.

In 2010, the High Court at New Delhi found that forcing homeless women to give birth on the streets is a violation of the women’s and newborn’s right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and directed the New Delhi government to establish two homeless shelters exclusively for homeless pregnant and lactating women after reading about a homeless woman who had died giving birth on the street. In the 12.1.2011 order issued in Writ Petition (C) 5913 of 2010, the High Court wrote.