TISS had to breach ‘culture of silent fear’ in shelter homes

“There is really no such thing as ‘voiceless’, there are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.” With this quote of writer Arundhati Roy, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) began its 100-page social audit report, which has exposed the sexual and physical abuse of girls living in shelter and short-stay homes in Bihar.

Administrative gaps

With explicit details of the trauma of the victims, the report concluded that “administrative and procedural gaps” have affected the functioning of the shelter homes.

“…there are financial constraints like low budgetary provisions and delayed release of funds, untrained staff, inadequate staff sanction, crucial positions not being filled for a long time, poor monitoring, absence of a clear accountability framework, etc… the findings have clearly brought out administrative and procedural gaps affecting the functioning of the institutions,” said the report in its conclusive part.

The TISS team is now said to be assisting the Bihar government in developing guidelines and framework to “ensure better accountability and improve the quality of services, security and safety of the inmates.”

The report further said that “violence emerged as the most prominent factor outlining the nature of the institutions… institutions like short-stay homes and child care came out as more vulnerable as the scope for exercising control grows with these populations due to their custodial nature…probably the most dangerous aspect of this is the acceptance of violence as normal.”

It also pointed out that “a culture of silent fear was sensed to be prevailing in the shelter homes and it took us more time than usual to get the residents to speak at all.”

“We deal with humans who are inherently independent, with independent minds and capabilities, and this fact must not be forgotten at any point of time... the first and foremost requirement to begin the process of reforming these institutions must begin from the acceptance of this fact,” suggested the report on its last page.