Attorney General of India KK Venugopal on Monday assured the Supreme Court that children, left out of the NRC in Assam whose parents have been included, will not be sent to detention centres.

An application filed by an organization complained that 60 children were lodged in detention centres because their citizenship was yet to be established.

The application also stated that one or both the parents of these 60 children had made it to the NRC.

A three-judge bench comprising of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant heard the plea.

Venugopal told the bench that the children whose names had not made it to the NRC will not be separated from their families.

“I cannot conceive children being sent to detention centres and being separated from their families,” he said.

“Children whose parents have been granted citizenship will not be sent to detention centres,” he added.

Meanwhile, the apex court asked the government for a reply on this case within four weeks.