New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has flagged a series of alleged violations, including an incident of a minor girl being sexually assaulted, in the Ranchi branch of a children’s shelter home, the Khushi Rainbow Home for Girls.
The report was filed before the Delhi High Court last week in an ongoing case relating to two other children’s homes in Delhi, including the Delhi branch of the Khushi Rainbow Home for Girls. These are run by the Centre For Equity Studies (CES), of which activist and writer Harsh Mander is director. However, Mander’s lawyer, Sarim Naved, told ThePrint that the new report was “irrelevant” as the Ranchi home isn’t run by the CES.
But the NCPCR has said that it was inspecting “institutions running under the Rainbow Home programme”. It said that the Ranchi home is “part of” and “running under” this programme, and sought action against the management in Delhi.
In the report, the NCPCR — a statutory body under the Ministry of Women and Child Development — has claimed that the children residing in this home, located in Kute Village in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district, live in deplorable conditions.
These children are deprived of the basic necessities required for their welfare, as laid out by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJA) — a special law to deal with delinquent juveniles and those in need of care and protection — the NCPCR has alleged. ThePrint has accessed the NCPCR’s report.
Ongoing case
The NCPCR’s report was part of an affidavit it has filed in the HC, which is currently hearing a petition from last year by two children’s homes run by Mander’s CES in the national capital — the Delhi branch of the Khushi Rainbow Home for Girls, and another called the Umeed Aman Ghar for Boys.
The petition, filed last year, sought the quashing of an inspection report by the NCPCR in which the two homes were accused of using children for the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Delhi in late 2019 and early 2020.
The CES has challenged the NCPCR’s findings, which had led to the Delhi Government issuing a show-cause notice against the shelter homes, as well as an FIR being filed against them.
In an affidavit filed last year, the NCPCR had already attempted to justify its findings with regard to the two homes. Last week, it filed a fresh affidavit through advocate Swarupama Chaturvedi, placing its latest report on the Khushi Rainbow Home’s Ranchi centre before the court.
An inspection of the Ranchi centre was undertaken on 26 April this year, three days after the NCPCR received a complaint about an alleged sexual assault on a minor girl inside the shelter home.
The complaint alleged that the home’s management had concealed the details regarding the incident.
According to the NCPCR report, the shelter home had “purposely failed to report the incident of sexual assault of a minor girl by the guard of the home”, and, therefore, the NCPCR has recommended registration of an FIR against its management in Delhi.
Mander’s lawyer Naved dismissed the NCPCR report as irrelevant for the proceedings before the Delhi HC.
“The report concerns a shelter home in Ranchi, which is run by another organisation and has nothing to do with Mr Mander,” said Naved.
“The proceedings before the Delhi HC relate to two shelter homes in Delhi where the NCPCR’s more than one-year-old enquiry report is under challenge. The pending matter has no relation to this (Ranchi) report by the NCPCR,” he added.
The HC adjourned the matter after the Ranchi shelter home sought time to respond to the NCPCR’s report.
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What the NCPCR report says
According to the inspection report given to the HC, a team lead by NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo interacted with the person in charge and the staff of the shelter home, as well as the alleged victim.
Several discrepancies and lapses of procedure were allegedly observed with regard to the steps the staff took after receiving information about the sexual assault.
The report says that not many staff members were forthcoming about the whereabouts of the guard who allegedly assaulted the minor girl. It was only during personal interactions with each employee that the team learnt about the guard’s discharge from the job.
According to the report, the team was also told that no police complaint was made regarding the alleged incident, nor was the victim provided with medical attention or counselling.
In addition to this, the NCPCR also claims to have found several key violations under the JJA and its rules, added in 2016.
While mandatory registration of all childcare institutions is a must under the law, the Ranchi centre allegedly did not have one at the time of the inspection.
Further, the Act provides for the mandatory reporting of a child found to be separated from a guardian to either the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) constituted under the JJA, Childline Services, the District Child Protection Unit, or the nearest police station.
If this intimation is not done within 24 hours, it is treated as a violation under the Act, and the violator can be punished with six months of jail time, a fine of Rs 10,000, or both.
The NCPCR’s inspection team says it found that of the 59 children living in the home, only nine were there under the CWC’s orders. Allegedly, no documents were produced to show on what basis the remaining children were housed in the centre.
The report highlights some more alleged violations, particularly regarding the physical infrastructure of the centre and absence of paperwork in cases where children have been restored to their guardians.
As for physical infrastructure and childcare facilities, the team found that the shelter home did not meet the minimum standards of care and parameters as mandated by the law. There were allegedly no management or children committees, and crucial positions, such as that of child welfare officer, counsellor, medical officer, paramedical staff, housekeeping staff and helper, among others, were found vacant.
Dormitories were allegedly not properly maintained, did not have fans, were not fumigated and were shared by the staff and the children, making the latter susceptible to abuse and harassment. There were also common toilets for the staff and the children, the report claims.
“The condition of children living in the institution was observed to be not adequate for the mental, social, and healthy development of children,” adds the report .
The institution was unable to produce documents to show that the children were receiving education, nor were there any records to show that cases where children had been restored to their guardians had proceeded under the CWC’s orders.
“The commission was saddened by the deplorable condition of the children staying in these homes, who were not being given even the basic facilities which are required for the welfare of children,” the report says.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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