The alleged beating of the 13-year-old boy at the State-run home for boys earlier this week has thrown light on the poor conditions at these homes where children, including child labourers, runaway children and juveniles are housed.
Some of the children whom The Hindu spoke to recalled their horrific experience during their stay in these homes. Their stories reveal instances of neglect and harassment. Bangalore has separate observation homes for boys and girls, and also another home for children in conflict with the law.
One of the boys, a child labourer who was rescued several months ago and kept in the house for a few months, said that staff often assaulted boys to discipline them. Besides, he also said that children, who had stayed in the house longer, ended up ‘bullying’ new inmates.
The boy also claimed that children were sometimes not adequately fed. “We would hope that many boys are not rescued at one go, as we would get little food,” he said.
Baburaj Palladan, Director, People’s Legal Forum, who was part of the study titled ‘Root Causes of Juvenile Crimes’ based on a study of 2,500 boys in Observation Home for Juveniles in Bangalore, said, “There is a need to maintain a detailed individual child care plan, particularly for children in conflict with the law. This does not merely mean maintaining records. There needs to be comprehensive behaviour change programmes based on their period of stay.”
Meanwhile, officials of the Department of Women and Child Development too concede that the staff shortage in the homes is one of the reasons for neglect ( see graphic ). “Due to staff crunch, we are forced to outsource our staffing requirements and cannot maintain quality. Outsourced staff are not trained and tuned to the needs of children,” a staff in the boys’ home said.
Minister of State for Women and Child Development Umashree said that she would direct officials to talk stock of the situation in order to build a conducive atmosphere for the inmates. “For both children in conflict with law as well as children who are in need of care and protection, there is a need to divert their minds and involve them in healthy extra-curricular activities.”
