Ten States Including Bihar & Uttar Pradesh Denied Audit Of Their Shelter Homes

Recently, two cases of shelter home sexual abuse, one from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and another one from Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria, have shocked the nation. Additional to this, it has also been discovered that the agency that was appointed for the audit of children homes all around the country has been denied entry into nine states including, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The agency was appointed by the Supreme Court to ensure the mapping and the audit of pan-India children shelter homes.

According to The Times of India, this comes after National Commision for Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the ministry of women and child development has asked the states to comply with the Supreme Court directions. However, the nine states that have not given access to the agency are Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Kerala and West Bengal. Initially, Odisha was also on the list, but after the central government intervention, the state finally agreed to give access to the audit exercise.

State’s response

The nine states that are denying the audit are citing the reason that the states want to conduct its own audit. According to data available with NCPCR, there are 5,850 registered child care institutions as of now, and more than 1,339 homes are yet to be registered through the SC. “There may be more such institutions which are not in the NCPCR list and hence the mapping exercise under the audit is critical. In Bihar, as per NCPCR data, there are 71 childcare institutions and 231 in UP. The NCPCR has intimated the status of the audit to the SC in a recent hearing in the ongoing public interest litigation,” said the officials, to The Times of India.

Earlier, some of these states had written to the child rights body regarding the reservations over allowing the audit agency in these homes.

Audits done so far

Till now, some 3000 institutions across the state has gone through the mapping and the audit by the Lucknow-based Academy of Management Studies, that was selected through a tender process. The audit agency assigned the task of audit in March, and in May it was conveyed to them that the ten states are not giving them access for the inspection and mapping.

Asking for an intervention

NCPCR has written to these states asking for the access. Meanwhile, it has also requested the welfare child Department (WCD) ministry to intervene in the matter. The WCD ministry’s brass is learned to have issued an advisory in July. NCPCR has also put forward its status report before the Supreme Court.

Out of the ten states on the list, only Odisha has agreed for the audit exercise. Till now NCPCR or the WCD ministry have not gotten any response from the other nine remaining states on the list. “We are trying to convince the other states for giving the access for the audit exercise,” said a senior official in the ministry.

Also Read: UP: 24 Out Of 42 Girls Rescued From Shelter Home Run By Elderly Couple; Rest All Missing