Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the State to install CCTVs in all children’s homes within two months. The order came after the government told a Division Bench of Justice Mridula Bhatkar and Justice Revati Mohite that of the 993 homes in Maharashtra, only 128 have CCTVs.
The Bench was hearing a bunch of suo motu petitions on the welfare of inmates of children’s homes, CCTVs, children with their mothers in prisons, implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and on installation of an app called Savitri , which would have details of all government schemes for women and children.
Additional government pleader Hiten Venegavkar said the cost of installing one set of camera is ₹5,000. On Savitri, Mr. Venegavkar said ₹4.39 crore has been allotted, and it will take six more months for the app to be functional.
The court also instructed the law and judiciary department to upload the juvenile justice rules on its website, after they are approved. The court said the portal must be open to the public for their suggestions on or before October 31.
The Department of Welfare of Children’s Development (DWCD) was asked to recognise an NGO in a district to work with women prisoners and their children, as per the Maharashtra Police Rules, 1966, within three months.
Similarly, the Bench said that the DWCD should appoint one full-time woman police officer in all women’s sections of the Central prisons, and major district prisons like Byculla and Kalyan, in two months.
The court suggested that the government consider increasing the budgetary allocation of grant-in-aid for released prisoners from ₹12 lakh per annum to ₹2 crore, and to consider increasing the grant amount of ₹425 per child a month to ₹1,000 under the Bal Sangopan Yojana.
