The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights visited the rented house of the 6-year-old rape victim in Unnikulam panchayat on Monday. The visit was made following reports that the girl along with her family had been staying in a dilapidated house with no proper doors or secure rooms.
Commission member Nazeer Chaliyam said the reports were true and the house and its surroundings were found totally unsafe for any family. “We have asked the local panchayat authorities to take immediate action against the house owner for violation of the approved construction plan. It was strange that such a house had got even the building number,” he said.
Mr. Nazeer also said the panel would ask the Labour Department to conduct periodic inspections in various migrant labour camps and audit safety aspects. “They have the responsibility to ensure it. In migrant labour camps, we don’t want to recreate the tragic situations once prevailed in the raw houses of plantation workers,” he added.
Commission members, including Mr. Nazeer and B. Babitha, said they would check the possibility of arranging a temporary stay for the victim’s family in any of the convenient government facilities in the district. “The family has expressed their wish to go back to their village in Nepal. We will help them for that on completion of the ongoing prosecution measures in the case,” they said.
It was on November 4 that the girl was sexually abused by a 32-year old man from the village. She had sustained serious injuries in the incident.
