"It is felt that bringing all the Children's Homes under this Act would subject them to stringent scrutiny and monitoring as prescribed and, thus, quality of care in the institutions would improve," a statement from the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry said.
To achieve the objective, an amendment will soon be made in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 to make non-registration of Children's Homes a punishable offence, it said.
The statement was issued after WCD minister Krishna Tirath held a meeting with officials from Ministries of Home Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Labour and Employment and Human Resource Development to discuss the measures to prevent child abuse.
Officials from National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), National Commission for Women (NCW) and voluntary organisations were also present in the meeting.
The statement said Tirath expressed her concern over various incidents of abuse and exploitation of children that have been reported by the Media in the recent past.
In the meeting, the issue of abuse of children in Child Care Institutions, such as the recent allegation of sexual abuse of children in Arya Anathalaya, Delhi, which is a Home un-registered under the Juvenile Justice Act, was discussed.
Tirath emphasised the need for stepping up coordination among Departments, Ministries, state governments and the civil society in order to avoid occurrence of such incidents.
Tirath informed officials that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill which has been passed by the Cabinet and will be re-introduced shortly in the Rajya Sabha, the statement released by WCD ministry said. (MORE) PTI ADS ALM
