New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS): The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the response of the Centre, and others on a plea filed by a woman alleging forceful conversion of her daughter by a Child Care Institution.

A division bench, headed by Chief Justice D.N. Patel was hearing the plea, in which the mother alleged that her daughter was forcefully converted to another religion after she was remanded by the Child Welfare Committee under the Juvenile Justice Act.

The plea, filed through advocate Dibyanshu Pandey, was challenging various provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016, pertaining to power, functions, and composition of the Child Welfare Committees.

The bench, also comprising Justice Jyoti Singh, issued notice to the Centre and other respondents after hearing the plea.

In her plea, the petitioner alleged that provisions of the JJ Act confer arbitrary powers on the CWC, which led to violation of the fundamental rights of her and her daughter.

As per the woman's plea, her daughter was arbitrarily sent into institutional care, where she was indoctrinated into another religion without parental consent and was also subjected to cruelty and exploitation for more than five months.

The petitioner alleged that two NGOs were trapping her daughter.