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Delhi court wavers on new creche for ‘neat, clean, disease-free kids’ only, reports Delhi Barfly

 

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Ain’t it just the way? The only thing that’s come out of the Rohini district court in months is a circular issued by its Building Management Committee, headed by judges Pradeep Chadda and Yogesh Khanna.

The unfortunate memo, issued on May 25, says that children of “all judicial officers and ministerial staff” of Rohini District courts would be allowed to avail crèche facilities. It goes on to add that these kids must be “neat and clean, and free of disease.”

Ok, so they want clean kids in their crèche — it is next to godliness, after all.

For the record, this circular clearly states it is meant to put judges’ on notice as well — because they are also judicial officers. But it is not usually the case that an middle-class-man’s daughter will be teased for lice in her hair. That honour will, if history holds true, will be bestowed on the janitor’s kid.

So, perhaps, there’s a deeper underpinning of classism here?

The members of Rohini’s BMC deny these allegations, and insist “yeh sab language ki problem hai. Media mein galat faime hain.”

They say the judges involved have issued a new circular and cancelled the old one in order to “stem any misunderstanding.”

The new circular dated June 2 clarifies that the earlier “May 25th” fiat “was never issued with intent to discriminate anyone and rather the spirit was to extend the facility to all with an effort to maintain high standards of hygiene in the facilities and in the larger interests of beneficiaries.” It goes on to add, “All the users would be required to follow the norms framed in this regard.”

Meanwhile, staffers — who were initially fuming — say its “good” that “they’ve said ki sabke liyesame hoga.” They continue to remain skeptical. “Dekho, ab clean ka matlab bhi toh define karna chahiye na.” They say they don’t know the standards of clean, but hope it won’t be misused against him.

One issue they are unanimous about is that the crèche is now open to everyone’s child regardless of the parents’ job hierarchy. Here, also, some are a bit distrustful. The circular’s talks of “space constraint” and advance notice.

They say it isn’t always easy to give advance notice when you’re stuck behind a desk all day, or at the beck and call of a higher officer like a judge. Others shrug and say it’s a step forward.

Only time will tell if this was a case of curious language or ingrained elitism…

Brownie points for speed, at least? (If newspapers started putting cold case stories on the front page once in a while, maybe pendency would improve.)

Delhi Barfly writes of the comings, goings and other gossip clogging up Delhi’s court system.

More Delhi Barfly here.

The new circular, saying essentially, “That's not what I meant to say.”

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