Set up panels to keep an eye on shelter home functioning: SC

NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over torture and sexual exploitation of children of shelter homes as revealed in the horrific cases in Muzaffarpur and Deoria, the Supreme Court on Tuesday proposed to set up an oversight committee at both central and state levels to keep an eye on the functioning of such homes.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta termed the recent incidents as "disgusting" and appealed to the governments to take a humane and sympathetic approach for protection and welfare of children. It asked the Centre to respond on the suggestion for setting up of the oversight committee after none of the state governments opposed it.

Advocate Aparna Bhat, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, told the bench that the state of affairs in shelter homes and child care units was "appalling" and pleaded the court to intervene and pass directions for setting things right. She informed the bench that Child Line India Foundation had last year conducted a survey of 9589 such homes across the country and filed a comprehensive report profiling them and the children living there.

As per the report, there are around 4.61 lakh children living in such homes and 8744 of them were run and managed by NGOs while 845 homes were government supported. Bhat also brought to the court's notice the discrepancy on the number of children in shelter homes as the government claimed that only 2.6 lakh children are living in such homes. She told the bench that only 48 percent of homes are registered despite the apex court's direction in 2013 making it mandatory for all child care homes to get registered under various provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act.

The amicus also emphasised the need to streamline the adoption policy as the present procedure is too cumbersome and time-consuming.

The court urged the Centre to take a stand on whether an independent committee should be set up to monitor functioning of child care units and give suggestion its composition at the central and state levels.

The apex court has already set up committees in all states to monitor shelter homes for the urban homeless.