TN: Surprise Shelter Home Visit Unravels Truth Of Rampant Sexual Abuse

After the revelation of two cases of sexual abuse in the shelter home, one from Bihar and other from Uttar Pradesh, another case from a Tamil Nadu children’s home has shocked and repulsed the nation. Three employees including the director of the children’s home have been arrested for sexually abusing the minor inmates. The district collector, Kandasamy’s surprise visit led to the ghastly secret being unearthed and eventually to the closure of the facility, reported Times Now.

The home, housing as many as 47 children aged between 6 and 19, was sealed on Sunday and the inmates were ordered to be relocated to another shelter home where they were questioned. According to an NDTV report, a number of girls alleged that they were sexually abused and threatened with dire consequences if they reported the matter to anyone.

The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and remanded to judicial custody.

Audit denied by the states

Following the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh shelter home sexual assault cases, as many as nine states across the country denied access to an agency appointed by the Supreme Court of India for the purpose of conducting audits of the children homes.

This comes after The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the ministry of women and child development asking the states to comply with the Supreme Court directions. However, the nine states where the audit agency is yet to access these homes are Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Kerala, and West Bengal.

The Logical Indian Take

The shelter homes were commissioned to provide a semblance of relief and security these children never had, having already suffered varying degrees of physical, mental and emotional trauma. Incidents like these, act as a severe setback in their rehabilitation towards a normal childhood and reintegration into society. Such abhorrent behaviour perpetrated by those entrusted with the safety of these children can only serve to further push them away from progress and a more productive future.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau 2016, every day, four minor children in the country are sexually assaulted or harassed. In 2015, from January 1 to December 31, 86 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in Delhi, according to the latest data on child sexual abuse cases which are registered under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012. While in 2016, 1620 cases were registered.

There are certainly many laws to protect these children but these numbers clearly show that there is a laxity in implementing these laws. The Logical Indian believes that regular audits should be carried out to ensure that cases like Muzaffarpur, Deoria or Tiruvannamalai do not repeat.

Also Read: Only 54 Of 2874 Shelter Homes In India Follow Norms, Majority Violate Rules: Report