Care Leavers Face Identity, Housing and Mental-Health Gaps: Rajasthan High Court Takes Suo Motu Cognizance

By a letter dated 20.05.2025, the children residing in the Balika Grah, Alwar told the Court of severe challenges caused by non-receipt of grant-in-aid, which they attributed to inaction by State officials; the letter also alleged exploitation by those officials (para 27). The Court also noted media reports on the hardship of care leavers (para 30). It treated the letter as a suo motu writ petition, directed its registration as a public interest litigation against ten respondents, including the Union of India, State authorities, the Alwar District Collector, the legal services authorities and UNICEF's Rajasthan office, and issued notice returnable in four weeks (para 32).

The Court noted that Article 15 permits special provisions for children, Article 21 protects their life and liberty, and Article 39 requires the State to protect children from abuse (paras 3-4). Child care institutions must be registered under Section 41(1) of the JJ Act, 2015 and registered institutions receive grant-in-aid for each child; yet, for want of coordination between Central and State officials, the aid is not released, and the State, as guardian of these children, must act promptly (paras 10-11). Young people who ‘age out’ of care at 18 often leave without identity documents such as Aadhaar or voter cards, a permanent address, shelter or support, which shuts them out of bank accounts, jobs, education and housing (paras 12-15). No database tracks care leavers, aftercare for those aged 18 to 21 is fragmented and seldom funded, and those given vocational support largely remain employed (paras 16-18). Despite Mission Vatsalya, Rajasthan's Samarth Yojana and a separate Department of Child Rights, the Court found that the welfare State had failed to discharge its duties and that aftercare remains fragmented and inadequate (paras 25-26, 31).