4 min readDehradunSep 20, 2023 02:30 PM IST
First published on: Sep 20, 2023 at 02:30 PM IST
Taking suo-motu cognizance of a video related to providing spaces for children to play, the Uttarakhand High Court has issued notice and directed the Union of India, as well as the state of Uttarakhand, to file their respective responses within two weeks.
The video featuring cricketer Virat Kohli was posted by a sports channel as part of an advertisement campaign three years ago.
Hearing a suo-motu PIL, the bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal said on Monday that they came across a social media post that struck a chord with them and therefore they considered it appropriate to take up the cause shown in the video, in public interest. The court said it wanted to understand what policy the state has formulated, and the policy that it may frame to address the issue of deprivation of the rights of children to play in lawns, playgrounds, and open areas, in their respective localities.
The court said that the video they came across showed Kohli responding to the grievance raised by a young boy on how the elders in his locality do not permit him and other children to play cricket. In the video, Kohli is seen going to the locality, asking for the boy, and then playing cricket with him and his friends.
Subsequently, a kid hits the ball which lands on the balcony of one of the flats in the locality and the children express dismay that the ball will not be returned. Kohli then approaches the flat and requests the woman there to return the ball. In the video, he also appeals to her to not stop children from playing and says that if he had been stopped from playing in his childhood, he would not have reached where he is.
In its order, the court mentioned that outdoor physical sporting activities contribute greatly to the physical and mental well-being of children and that the youth are being denied a very vital and fundamental right. The result of children being denied the right to play outdoor sports in their own localities and colonies is that they get reduced to becoming screen addicts, said the court.
“Very often, we find that open spaces are turned into ornamental parks with trees planted all over, leaving hardly any space for any sporting activity. Right in the middle of the parks and lawns, fountains are erected – which rarely function. The parks are filled with benches for the elders and toddlers to sit so they can spend their mornings and evenings. Unfortunately, there is hardly any consideration shown to the needs of the children and youth to pursue outdoor sporting activities in their localities and colonies,” said the court.
The court also mentioned that the Centre has come up with the Khelo India scheme, but in their view, merely opening stadiums and large playgrounds may not be sufficient to address the issues raised in the video.
“We wonder whether the state has formulated any policy to address the issues taken note of hereinabove. If not, we are of the view that the state shall look at the issues which arise from the video graph in question, and which we have taken note of hereinabove. To address the concerns of all sections and age groups, particularly, the elders who consider younger children playing sports in the locality as a nuisance, the state could decide to provide and erect nets or fencing on the exterior boundaries of the playing area, or provide such other facilities, to prevent any inconvenience to anyone,” said the court order.
The state should also reconsider its policy of developing, or permitting the development of parks and lawns in colonies, localities, and public parks, for ornamental purposes, at the cost of denying open spaces and playgrounds to children and youth for pursuing outdoor sporting activities, it added.
The video featuring cricketer Virat Kohli was posted by a sports channel as part of an advertisement campaign three years ago.
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