Govt sets up 2 homes for pregnant homeless,gets pat on back

“Not everything can be done by using a magic wand. We are happy that something has happened on ground for destitute pregnant and lactating women,” the Bench said.

The court also took note of the submission by Delhi government counsel Najmi Waziri that these homes were equipped with all the medical facilities. He said a lactating woman was admitted to one of the homes on Tuesday and was receiving medical care.

During the argument,amicus curiae Jayshree Satpute claimed that these centres are not in the vicinity of the “homeless hubs” like Chandni Chowk,Nizamuddin and Jama Masjid. According to the lawyer,poor women can not afford to go such a distance to avail of medical and other facilities.

To this,the Bench said they hoped the authorities would take care of such concerns as well.

The Bench directed the NGO working for such women to co-ordinate with the Ministry for Women and Child Development to facilitate the shelter and medicalcare for the poor women.

Taking suo-motu action on the basis of newspaper reports that a woman died after giving birth to a child on the pavement due to lack of medical care on July 26 last year,the court had directed the government to set up shelter homes for destitute women. The woman was found lying in a pool of dirty water at Shankar Market in Connaught Place.