Govt, NGOs join hands to rescue home

On the last occasion, when the matter came up for hearing before the bench of ChiefJustice Y K Sabharwal and Justice S H Kapadia, counsel for the petitioners remarked that the department of Women and Child Welfare was very cooperative on the issue. He added that even as the secretary of the department Dr Joyce Shankaran had shown keen interest in the matter, a few meetings were still needed to sort out differences on the proposal. The matter is now adjourned for two weeks.

The directions to the NGOs and the state government to work out a proposal for rehabilitation of such rescued girls came about when a court-appointed commissioner confirmed that conditions in the home were indeed unliveable.

Prerana had filed its petition after about 18 girls rescued from the red light areas of Kamathipura and Falklands Road in April 1999 were sent here. Kasturba Sadan, it was alleged, had poor sanitary conditions and unhygienic drinking water facilities. The women, who were used to earning a livelihood had no means of recreation or any scheme to keep themselves occupied. In such a situation, thewomen were vulnerable to their agents and traffickers who were looking for excuses to lure them back into the trade.

The draft rehabilitation scheme submitted to the HC now suggests vocational and educational programmes where the Shramik Vidyapeeth has offered to provide for training programmes like data entry operations, electric and electronic parts assembling, TV repairing, etc. To provide food to the home that is to be constructed, the proposal suggests offering the contract to Annapoorna Mahila Mandal, a non-profit charitable organisation.

Among other NGOs involved in the proposal are Prayas, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences TISS, which has offered to teach tailoring to the home8217;s inmates, and Pratham, which has agreed to have education classes each for a duration of six months. Cehat, specialising in health issues, has offered to supervise and monitor the health aspects of the home, while P K Das and Associates has agreed to construct the new rescue home, which it would like to be built as anSOS village, where small units of 20 residents would live with the community centre in the middle of these units.

Counselling for the girls, it has been suggested, could be done by CCDT Committed Community Developmental Trust which would train probationary officers of the state government in counselling skills. Prerana itself has offered to help in the recreational field.

The draft also suggests a daily routine for the girls, including a monthly stipend of Rs 250 for their personal expenses. It has suggested that children below six years of age should be allowed to stay with their mother in the rescue home. It has also added that on admission, a resident should not be released, transferred or deported before completion of three months.

In exceptional cases, the rule could be relaxed, but not unless it is approved either by the chief inspector or the Juvenile Welfare Board.