Close unregistered homes, unscrupulous NGOs
The Supreme Court's stern directive to the Centre and State Governments last week to shut down all children's homes run by unregistered NGOs by December 31, is a long-overdue recognition of such centres being hubs of rampant child trafficking. Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection Children) Act of 2000, every State is required to create juvenile homes or contract a voluntary organisation for the purpose. With State after State posting horrific statistics of trafficking, abuse, and rise in juvenile crimes, the apex court's deadline must compel Governments to look into this systemic rot wherein millions of innocent lives are sacrificed to mercenary traffickers parading in the garb of well-meaning NGOs. The Supreme Court directive rightly calls for immediate identification of such dubious organisations, withdrawal of Government funding from them, and requisitioning of NGOs with a credible track record in providing children safe shelters.
The Court's intervention must bring relief to not only those suffering the tyranny of these unregistered homes but to those genuinely committed for the upliftment of the needy and orphaned children across rural and urban India. Indeed, the directive addresses the harsh reality that girls living in these homes are either trafficked as slaves or pushed into flesh trade. The statistics are depressing, to say the least. News reports of rampant abuse of live-in maids trafficked from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh by so-called placement agencies across urban homes pour in with alarming regularity. All tell a dismal tale of poor and unhygienic work conditions as also sordid stories of sexual abuse. The less fortunate are not even provided the ostensible dignity of a job, sucked as they are into the vortex of sex rackets across urban centres. Many of these can be traced back to the unregistered homes the apex court has cracked down upon. Admittedly, girls alone are not the victims of this perversion. Even boys from these homes, routinely trafficked to the Gulf as slaves and beggars, are part of a grim narrative of unspeakable mental and physical torture.
While the Supreme Court has pointed a finger specifically at unregistered organisations indulging in child trafficking, there is need for the Centre and State Governments to additionally look into State-run juvenile corrective homes that tell an equally shocking story. The 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case drew national attention to one of the perpetrators of that violent crime who found easy refuge in the Juvenile Justice Act for being underage at the time of the horrific incident. Outrage across the spectrum forced a debate on the prevalent conditions in these supposed reform homes that encourage rather than deter criminal activity. With extremely poor rehabilitation strictures, such remand homes have been known to encourage juvenile delinquents into becoming remorseless criminals in their adulthood. Therefore, while the directive is a welcome move to track down unregistered NGOs, it is time the relevant authorities looked into State-run juvenile corrective homes as well to assess the actual efficacy of their rehabilitation programmes.