GURUGRAM: The chief judicial magistrate pulled up the district administration and the Child Welfare Committee over a series of violations at shelter
homes, terming it a “failure” on the part of both.
CJM Narender Singh, who inspected the
Aarushi home in Sector 21 on Saturday, asked the district administration and the
CWC why they were not using the shelter home in
Sector 15 that has been ready for six months. He also sought to know why kids from other states were being kept at the Sector 21 shelter home instead of being sent back to such government facilities in their respective districts.
The CJM’s
inspection came at a time when shelter homes in
Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh are under police scanner following reports of alleged sexual assault of inmates.
“Basic requirements are not being followed. There are multiple cases in which children are being sent to Child Care Institutes (CCI) by the CWC without proper documentation. In one of the shelter homes I visited today, I came across a few kids who had been brought there without the mandatory signatures of all the five CWC members. In a majority of cases, only one member has signed the documents. I also came across a girl from Delhi who has been staying in the shelter since September last year without orders from the CWC,” the CJM said after his visit to the Aarushi home.
He also expressed unhappiness over children from other states, such as Jharkhand and Rajasthan, staying in the city’s shelter homes intead of those in their respective states. “Every district has a CWC and it is their primary duty to rehabilitate and protect the rights of children. It is a complete failure of the district administration and the CWC to perform their duties. The fact that the government CCI (in Sector 15) has been ready for the past six months and still not being used shows that the administration doesn’t care. I will submit a report in this regard to the high court,” he said.
CWC chairperson Shakuntala Dhull contested the allegations. “There are some cases in which children are brought to us during unholy hours and only one member is able to sign on the document. Later, all other members sign the documents. As far as the girl from Delhi is concerned, I need to check with the CCI why she is being kept there without our orders,” she said, adding the CCI in Sector 15 was yet to be handed over to the CWC.
The shelter home in Sector 15 has been ready for six months
