`Custody sans care’– Official apathy defeats juvenile welfare

The Sector 15 remand home is nowhere near the ideal juvenile home described in the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986. The Act stipulates: “Every juvenile home shall not only provide the juvenile with accommodation, maintenance and facilities for education, vocational training and rehabilitation, but also provide him with facilities for the development of his character.” Instead, the Sector 15 home resembles a prison. Plans of shifting it to an alternate, more spacious site have not yet matured.

While desperate attempts to contact UT Adviser went futile, Social Welfare Director Prithi Chand, who is directly in charge of the home, remained more than mum. No sooner had the reporter got him on the phone and identified herself than the director declared, “I’m not supposed to talk” and hung up. With no vocation at hand, Sonu and Kishan (who were booked for awara-girdi, another name for simply being homeless) pass their days looking for any way to get attention, even if it is negative. They wrestle with one another, fiddle with light points, break window panes, eat chips of plaster from the wall and look for every chance to run away.

Two of the four watchmen on duty deal with this misbehaviour in the only way they know how — by thrashing the boys hard. Says an inmate of the Old Age Home which is housed in the same building: We often hear these boys shouting for help. We have complained to the Adviser about it.

There have been confirmed reports of two watchmen — Sohan Singh and Mukhtiar Singh — beating the children. Some days ago the deputy commissioner asked them to explain their conduct. An eye witness informs: Once I saw Mukhtiar standing with one leg on the back of this child. He was saying “Aur ro, aur ro.” On yet another occasion Sohan allegedly did not open the door for Sonu who then had to relieve himself in the room itself.

Though Sonu seemed too terrified to talk, Kishan admitted, “The one who carries a knife (Sohan Singh) beats me up.”

Watchman Mukhtiar, when questioned, denied the allegations. He maintained, “Kishan is demented. He eats up the wall. Once he tried to eat a live lizard. He has broken window panes and he keeps threatening us. He needs to be sent to an asylum. This place is not meant for him.”

With the watchmen blaming the children and the in-charge refusing to even discuss their condition, it appears unlikely that `custodial care’ is going to do the boys any good now or in the near future.

Given the conditions of the Juvenile Home it is not surprising that inmates are constantly on the lookout for a chance to flee the place.

Powers of the juvenile boards are vested in the Chief Judicial Magistrate and while the ones accused of crimes at least have a chance to see the magistrate on the dates of court hearings, those booked for wandering seldom get this chance. Their fate rests entirely in the hands of the administration, which may or may not see it fit to carry out regular inspection of the home and its inmates.